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DEMOCRACY 

AND 

THE   PARTY  SYSTEM 

IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

A   STUDY  IN  EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL 
GOVERNMENT 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •  BOSTON  •  CHICAGO 
ATLANTA  •  SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


^DEMOCRACY 

/  ^  AND 

THE  PARTY  SYSTEM 

IN   THE   UNITED   STATES 


A   STUDY   IN    EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL 
GOVERNMENT 


BY 


M.   OSTROGORSKI 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1910 

Att  rights  reserved 


>»^ 


J^o* 


Copyright,  1910, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  September,  1910. 


Norivood  Press 

J.  S.  Cusbing  Co.  —  Beri^ick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.y  U.S. A 


PUBLISHERS'   NOTE 

Within  a  short  time  after  the  publication  of 
M.  Ostrogorski's  work,  Democracy  and  the  Organiza- 
Hon  of  Political  Parties^  the  suggestion  was  repeat- 
edly made  in  the  American  and  the  European 'press 
that  an  abridged  edition  of  this  book  should  be 
brought  out,  or  its  concluding  chapters  printed  sepa- 
rately, for  the  benefit  of  a  larger  circle  of  the  read- 
ing public.  This  suggestion  was  communicated  to 
the  author,  and  was  favourably  received  by  him ;  but 
at  that  time  political  events  in  his  own  country, 
Russia,  absorbed  all  his  time  and  energy.  The 
struggles  for  constitutional  freedom  led  to  the  insti- 
tution of  a  Russian  Parliament,  and  brought  M.  Os- 
trogorski  into  the  first  Duma,  of  which  he  became 
one  of  the  most  active  members. 

The  triumph  of  Reaction  which  followed  cut  short 
the  life  of  that  great  assembly  and  enabled  M.  Os- 
trogorski  to  resume  his  literary  work.  He  undertook 
the  abridgment  and  the  revision  of  his  book.  He 
came  again  to  this  country  to  study  our  latest  political 
developments.  The  results  of  his  new  labours  are 
given  to  the  public  in  the  present  book,  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  the  United  States.  While  based  upon 
the  second  volume  of  the  larger  work,  the  present 
book  has  been  not  merely  condensed  but  thoroughly 
revised,  brought  up  to  date,  and  enriched  with  a 
great  deal  of  new  matter.  The  chapter  on  the  extra- 
constitutional  government  in   the  legislative  assem- 

V 


vi  PUBLISHERS*    NOTE 

blies  appears  here  for  the  first  time.  The  concluding 
chapters  have  been  largely  rewritten,  and  many 
pages  of  new  material  will  be  found  there. 

While  the  scholar  must  still  be  referred  to  M.  Os- 
trogorski's  larger  work  in  two  volumes,  the  student 
and  the  general  reader  will  find  in  the  present  book 
all  the  data,  with  the  full  discussion  of  this  great 
subject,  which  the  author  has  introduced  into  political 
literature. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Introduction i 

CHAPTER  I 
The  First  Party  Organizations  in  the  United  States        3 

CHAPTER   n 
The  Establishment  of  the  Convention  System        .      16 

CHAPTER  in 
The  Evolution  of  the  Convention  System        .        .      36 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Evolution  of  the  Convention  System  {Continued^      51 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Evolution  of  the  Convention  System  {Conclusion^      72 

CHAPTER  VI 
The  Local  Organization      .        .        .        .        .        .    104 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  Conventions 118 

CHAPTER  VIII 
The  National  Convention 133 

CHAPTER  IX 
The  Election  Campaign 161 

vii 


Vm  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  X 

PAGE 

The  Election  Campaign  {Conclusion)  .        .        .        .198 

CHAPTER  XI 
The  Politicians  and  the  Machine      .        .        .        .    225 

CHAPTER  Xn 
The  Politicians  and  the  Machine  {Conclusion)         .    250 

CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Extra-constitutional  Government  in  the  Leg- 
y>  islative  Assemblies 282 

CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Struggles  for  Emancipation       ....    294 

CHAPTER  XV 
The  Struggles  for  Emancipation  {Conclusion)  .    321 

CHAPTER  XVI 
Summary 364 

CHAPTER  XVII 
Conclusion •        .422 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL   NOTE  .   •     .         .         .         -457 

INDEX 463 


DEMOCRACY 

AND 

THE   PARTY  SYSTEM 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


A   STUDY  IN  EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL 
GOVERNMENT 


The  American  Constitution  has  been  for  long 
a  subject  of  admiration.  Indeed,  seldom  has  a 
people  found  amid  the  tempest  which  usually  accom- 
panies the  establishment  of  liberty  and  independence 
leaders  as  sagacious  and  acute  as  were  the  founders 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  They  knew 
history,  they  understood  man,  they  fathomed  the 
great  political  thinkers  of  the  age,  they  gauged 
the  noble  as  well  as  the  petty  passions  wliich  gave 
themselves  free  play  during  the  period  of  the  pain- 
ful beginnings  of  the  new  nation.  But  they  could 
not  foresee  the  destiny  of  their  country,  they  had 
no  idea  of  the  course  along  which  it  was  to  be 
carried  by  its  economic  evolution.  Their  work,  there-  \ 
fore,  has  not  altogether  stood  the  test  of  time.  The 
political  and  social  evolution  of  the  United  States 
has  rendered  some  parts  of  it  obsolete.  The  Fathers 
did  not  anticipate  the  flood  of  Democracy  rising  above 
the  gates  erected,  nor  the  all-pervading  development 
of  Party,  nor  the  coming  of  conquering  Plutocracy.     [ 

These  factors — Democracy,  Party,  and  Plutocracy — 
taken  together  completely  altered  the  direction  of 
government  and  went  far  to  reduce  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  to  a  paper  constitution.  Extra- 
constitutional  forms  developed,  which  have  fre- 
quently superseded  or  encroached  upon  the  consti- 
tutional order.  It  is  impossible  to  understand  the 
American  government  unless  one  has  studied  well 
those  extra-constitutional  forms. .   Nor  is  such  study 


necessary  only  for  more  accurate  knowledge.  The 
constitutional  mechanism  itself  would  work  in  the 
wrong  way  or  would  revolve  in  empty  space  if  the 
extra-constitutional  machinery  superimposed  on  it 
were  ignored.  The  citizen  who  is  supposed  to  propel 
that  mechanism  would  fail  in  his  task,  to  the  great 
injury  of  himself  and  of  the  commonwealth. 

Therefore  it  is  not  only  the  student  but  the  citizen 
too,  the  American  citizen,  who  must  study,  along 
with  the  constitutional  government,  the  extra-consti- 
tutional system.  Its  body  and  soul  are  to  be  found 
in  the  parties  with  their  elaborate  organization, 
which  has  grown  gradually  and  almost  concurrently, 
with  the  Union.  The  evolution  of  the  party  system 
and  its  actual  working  become  therefore  the  subject 
to  be  studied,  and  to  this  the  present  volume  is  de- 
voted. 


FIRST  CHAPTER 

THE   FIRST   PARTY   ORGANIZATIONS   IN   THE   UNITED 
STATES 

I.  The  germs  of  American  extra^constitutJQiial  or-  Beginnings 
2;anization  are  to  be  found  in  the  clubs  of  the  colonial  ^^  ^^^.^^'' 

'^  --  /tm"*         const  I  ai- 

period,  which  flourished  mostly  m  Boston.  These  tionai  c,i 
clubs,  originally  of  a  social  character,  became  on  the  ganizaUons. 
approach  of  the  American  Revolution  a  centre  of  politi- 
cal discussion,  and  very  soon  of  political  action  too. 
Among  the  Boston  clubs  a  conspicuous  place  was  taken 
by  the  Caucus  Club.  The  origin  of  this  odd  name,  which 
had  such  an  extraordinary  future  before  it,  is  still  a 
moot  point  for  the  learned.^  In  the  more  or  less  secret 
meetings  of  the  Caucus  Club  public  affairs  had  long 
been  a  subject  of  discussion,  whether  current  business 
before  the  colonial  Assembly,  or,  and  especially,  local 

^According  to  some  the  term  "caucus"  is  supposed  to  come  from 

[the  Algonquin  Indians,  from  the  word  kaw-kaw-was,  which  in   their 

I  language  aip^nt  to  talk,  to  give  advice,  to  instigate.     Another  theory 

[derives>^caucus"  from  the   English  word  "calker"   or  "caulker." 

According  to  some  it  referred  to  the  caulkers  in  the  Boston  dockyards, 

[who,  when  seeking  redress  against  the   English  soldiers  with  whom 

ley  came  in  conflict,  held  meetings,  at  which,  as.4t  would  appear, 

[delegates  were  chosen  to  bring  their  grievances  before  the  authorities. 

According  to  others  the  nickname  of  "caucus"  has  been  given  to 

)rivate  gatherings  of  politicians  in  Boston  by  a  modification  of  the 

word  "caulker,"  because  they  held  their  meetings  in  the  caulker's 

club  or  in  a  room  which  had  formerly  been  used  as  a  meeting  place 

ifor  tie  caulkers. 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Original 
methods  of 
nomina- 
tions. 


elections.  The  first  mentibn  of  such  gatherings  relate: 
to  a  period  preceding  the  American  Revolution  b} 
more  than  half  a  century. 

The  Caucus  of  Boston  played  an  important  par; 
during  the  Revolution.  To  the  initiative  of  it: 
members,  and  especially  of  one  of  them,  Samuel  Adams 
was  due  the  creation  of  the  ''corresponding  com 
mittees,"  of  that  formidable  organization  of  the  pa 
triotic  party  which  paved  the  way  for  the  Revolutioi 
and  independence.  The  secession  of  the  colonies  pu 
an  end  to  the  task  of  the  corresponding  committees 
A  few  years  later,  the  contagion  of  the  French  Revolu 
tion  produced  in  the  United  States  political  organiza 
tions  in  the  form  of  ''  Democratic  Societies,'^  which  wen, 
an  imitation  of  the  Paris  Jacobin  Club.  They  sooi 
spread  into  all  the  States,  into  the  cities  and  the  towns. 
But  as  they  followed  too  closely  their  model  of  Paris 
they  became  an  element  of  disturbance  and  a  menac' 
to  public  order,  so  much  so  that  President  Washingtoi 
felt  obliged  to  denounce  to  the  country  these  "self 
created  societies,"  and  after  a  time  they  vanished  under 
the  disapproval  of  public  opinion. 

2.   It  took  several  years  to  bring  about  a  permanen . 

extra-constitutional  organization.   The  election  contests, 

while  too  often  exceedingly  keen  in  those  days,  were  no 

>'  so  much  between  parties  clearly  divided  by  principles 

jand  progranmaes  as   between   factions    torn  by  local 

.  and  personal  rivalries.     Even  on  the  great  stage  of  tht; 

political  life  of  the  new  Republic,  in  the  Congress  o*" 

.  .the  United  States,  the  division  into  parties  producec 

by  divergent  interpretations  of  the  Constitution  tool 

some  time  to  consolidate  itself.    The  local  organizatioi 


THE   FIRST  PARTY   ORGANIZATIONS  5 

of  parties  was  consequently  still  more  slow  to  grow 
up;  in  any  event,  it  had  at  the  outset  no  need  of  a 
rigid  structure,  for  the  reason  that  the  number  of  voters 
was  generally  limited  by  the  qualifications  for  the 
franchise,  that  the  elective  offices  were  not  numerous, 
and  finally  because  in  American  society,  especially  in 
New  England,  there  was  still  a  ruling  class  —  that  is  to 
say,  groups  of  men  who,  owing  to  their  character,  their 
wealth,  and  their  social  position,  commanded  the  confi- 
dence of  their  fellow-citizens  and  made  them  accept 
their  leadership  without  a  murmur.  The  candidates 
were  nominated  in  town  meetings  or  county  meetings, « 
but  in  reality  these  general  gatherings  simply  ratified 
selections  made  beforehand  by  the  small  coteries  of 
leaders. 

In  Pennsylvania,  where  the  strife  of  factions  was 
particularly  keen,  a  rough  outline  of  an  elective  organi-  [ 
zation  of  parties  appeared  sooner  than  elsewhere,  but 
for  a  considerable  time  it  proceeded  by  uncertain  and 
unconnected  spurts  in  which  it  would  be  difficult  to 
discover  a  regular  evolution.  To  nominate  candidates* 
for  elective  offices  which  went  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
county,  delegates  from  several  localities  assembled. 
But  all  these  meetings  were  composed  in  an  anything 
but  regular  way;  too  often  the  representation  of  the 
different  localities  was  neither  complete  nor  direct. 
The  decisions  taken  in  them,  however,  were  not  bind- 
ing, neither  voters  nor  candidates  considered  themselves 
bound  by  the  nominations  made,  and  often  the  com- 
petitors for  elective  offices  who  had  not  been  accepted 
went  on  with  their  candidatures  just  the  same;  they 
offered  themselves  directly  to  the  electorate. 


Caucus. 


/ 


6  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

The  Legis-        3-   The  parties  before  long  found  a  permanent  basis 
lative  fQj.  tjjgjj.  extra-constitutional  existence  in  the  constitu- 

tional fabric  itself  —  in  the  State  Legislatures  and  then 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

For  the  elective  offices  bestowed  in  each  State  by 
the  whole  body  of  its  voters,  such  as  the  posts  of  Gov- 
ernor and  Lieutenant-Governor  or  the  functions  of 
presidential  electors,  a  preliminary  understanding  as  to 
the  candidates  could  only  be  suitably  effected  in  a  single 
meeting  for  the  whole  State.  But  to  organize  such 
general  meetings  was  by  no  means  easy  in  ordinary 
times,  both  on  account  of  the  means  of  communication 
in  those  days,  which  made  a  journey  to  the  capital  of 
the  State  a  formidable  and  almost  hazardous  under- 
taking, and  of  the  difficulty  of  finding  men  of  leisure 
willing  to  leave  their  homes  for  the  discharge  of  a 
temporary  duty.  However,  men  trusted  by  the  voters 
of  the  State  were  already  assembled  in  the  capital  as 
members  of  the  Legislature.  Were  they  not  in  the 
best  position  for  bringing  before  their  constituents  the 
names  of  the  candidates  who  could  command  the  most 
votes  in  the  State  ?  Acting  on  this  idea  the  members  of 
the  State  Legislatures  laid  hands  on  the  nomination 
of  the  candidates  to  the  State  offices.  The  members 
of  both  Houses  belonging  to  the  same  party  met  semi- 
officially, generally  in  the  legislative  building  itself, 
made  their  selections,  and  communicated  them  to  the 
voters  by  means  of  a  proclamation,  which  they  signed 
individually.  Sometimes  other  signatures  of  well- 
known  citizens  who  happened  to  be  in  the  capital  at 
that  moment  were  added,  to  give  more  weight  to  the 
recommendation  of  the  legislators. 


THE  FIRST  PARTY  ORGANIZATIONS  7 

This  practice  of  recommending  candidates  for  the 
State  rapidly  became  general  in  the  whole  Union. 
After  1796  it  appears  as  a  settled  practice  in  all  the 
States.  The  electoral  body  acquiesced  in  it  with  a 
fairly  good  grace.  The  Legislature,  after  all,  repre- 
sented the  most  important  elements  of  that  body;  it 
had  a  plentiful  share  of  the  men  of  the  old  "ruling 
class"  who  were  still  regarded  as  the  natural  leaders  of 
society,  and  by  the  side  of  them  an  ever-growing  pro- 
portion of  young  politicians  thrown  up  by  the  demo- 
cratic leaven  which  was  continuously  agitating  the 
country.  The  private  character  of  the  semi-official 
meetings  in  question  held  by  the  members  of  Legisla- 
tures got  them  the  nickname  of  Caucus,  by  analogy  with 
the  secret  gatherings  of  the  Caucus  started  at  Boston 
before  the  Revolution.  The  name  of  "Legislative  Cau- 
cus" became  their  formal  title  in  all  the  States. 

4.   A  similar   institution  was  soon  founded  within  The  Con- 
the  Congress  itself.     For  some  time  past  the  Federalist  gf^^sional 
members  of  Congress,  and  the  Senators  in  the  first  place, 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  holding  semi-official  meetings,   ^ 
to  which  the  familiar  name  of  caucus  was  applied,  t       / 
settle  their  Ime  of  conduct  beforehand  on  the  mc^ ..   / 
important  questions  coming  before  Congress.     The  de-.-^  ' 
cisions  arrived  at  by  the  majority  of  the  members  present 
were  considered  as  in  honour  binding  the  minority,  and         / 
thus  imparted  to  their  confabulations  a  moral  authority 
and  almost  a  legal  title.     At  the  approach  of  the  presi- 
dential election  of  1800  the  members  of  the  Federalist 
party  in  Congress  seized  upon  a  matter  which  was       / 
entirely  beyond  the  competence  of  Congress ;  they  im- 
dertook  to  nominate  the  candidates  for  the  Presidency 


8  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

and  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  Union,  and  endeavoured 
through  their  personal  influence  to  get  them  accepted  by 
the  Electors.  The  Caucus  wrapped  all  its  proceedings 
in  profound  secrecy.  It  provoked,  nevertheless,  the 
protestations  of  the  opposition,  which  denounced  the 
"Jacobinical  conclave"  and  "the  arrogance  of  a 
number  of  Congress  to  assemble  as  an  electioneering 
caucus  to  control  the  citizens  in  their  constitutional 
rights."  But  this  did  not  prevent  the  Republicans  them- 
selves, the  anti-Federalist  members  of  Congress,  from 
holding  a  caucus,  also  secret,  for  the  nomination  of  can- 
didates to  the  two  highest  executive  offices  of  the  Union. 

At  the  next  presidential  election,  in  1804,  the  Congres- 
sional Caucus  reappeared,  but  on  this  occasion  it  no 
longer  observed  secrecy.  The  Republican  members  of 
Congress  met  publicly  and  settled  the  candidatures 
with  all  the  formalities  of  deliberative  assemblies,  as  if 
they  were  acting  in  pursuance  of  their  mandate.  The 
Federalists,  who  were  almost  annihilated  as  a  party 
after  Jefferson's  victory,  in  1801,  gave  up  holding 
caucuses  altogether.  Henceforth  there  met  only  a 
p.epublican  Congressional  Caucus,  which  appeared 
Wi  the  scene  every  four  years  at  the  approach  of  the 
presidential  election. 

The  extra-constitutional,  not  to  say  the  anti-consti- 
tutional, role,  which  this  body  had  assumed,^  was  more 
than  once  challenged  with  much  heat,  both  in  Congress 
and  in  the  country.  But  its  decisions  were  invariably 
accepted  and  its  candidates  elected. 

*  As  is  well  known,  the  authors  "bf  the  Constitution  were  much 
concerned  about  the  special  precautions  to  be  taken  for  ensuring  the 
choice  of  the  best  men  for  the  chief  magistracy  and  for  preserving  it 


THE  FIRST  PARTY  ORGANIZATIONS  p 

5.  The  authority  of  the  Congressional  Caucus,  which  The  sources 
got  its  recommendations  accepted  with  this  alacrity  and  °^  *^f  ^°^" 

gressional 

made  the   "nomination"   equivalent   to   the   election,  Caucus' 
rested  on  two  facts.     The  men  who  composed  the  authority. 
Caucus  represented  in  the  capital  of  the  Union  the>     X 
same  social  and  political  element,  and  in  a  still  higher 
degree,  which  the  members  of  the  Legislative  Caucuses 
represented  in  the  States — that  is,  the  leadership  of  the 
natural  chiefs,  whose  authority  was  still  admitted  and 
tacitly  acknowledged. 

Again,  the  members  of  the  Caucus  represented  the 
paramount  cause  which  compelled  obedience  to  the 
word  of  command  from  whatever  quarter  it  proceeded. 
Rightly  or  wrongly,  the  anti-Federalists  believed  that  the 
Republic  and  liberty  were  in  mortal  danger,  that  they 
were  menaced  by  the  Federalists,  whose  political  ideal  v 
was  the  English  constitutional  monarchy,  and  who, 
having  no  confidence  in  the  people,  in  its  intelligence 
and  its  virtue,  were  bent  on  an  authoritarian  government. 
The  Federalist  party  soon  succumbed,  but  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  dangers,  real  or  imaginary,  to  which  liberty 
and  equality  were  exposed  by  it,  survived  it  and  for 

from  intrigue  and  corruption.  They  hesitated  to  entrust  the  election 
to  the  masses,  but  they  were  not  less  apprehensive  about  leaving  it 
to  an  assembly.  Between  direct  democracy  and  oligarchy,  they 
thought  they  had  discovered  a  middle  term  in  a  special  body  of  Elec- 
tors emanating  from  the  people.  The  idea  was  that  these  men, 
taken  from  outside  oflficial  circles  (the  members  of  Congress  and 
office-holders  of  the  United  States  being  made  ineligible),  scattered 
throughout  the  Union  and  charged  with  a  temporary  mission,  begin- 
ning with  the  vote  and  ending  with  it,  would  be  inaccessible  to  cor- 
ruption, and  would  obey  only^he  dictates  of  their  conscience  and  their 
intelligence,  the  high  standard  of  which  had  marked  them  out  for  the 
confidence  of  their  fellow-citizens. 


lO 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Growing 
opposition 
to  the 
Caucus. 


/ 


many  a  long  day  was  a  sort  of  bugbear.  To  prevent 
the  Federalists  from  returning  to  the  charge,  the 
Republicans  had  to  guard  carefully  against  divisions, 
and  it  was  to  avoid  them,  to  concentrate  all  the  forces 
of  the  party  in  the  great  fight  for  the  Presidency,  that  the 
Congressional  Caucus  obligingly  offered  its  services. 

6.  However,  the  two  great  forces,  social  and  political, 
of  the  leadership  and  of  the  categorical  imperative  of 
the  party,  on  which  the  Caucus  relied,  had  been  slowly 
but  steadily  declining  almost  from  the  beginning  of  the 
century  which  witnessed  the  elevation  of  Jefferson  and 
the  triumph  of  democratic  doctrines  in  the  theories  of 
government.  The  annihilation  of  the  Federalists  put 
an  end  to  the  division  into  parties,  and  Jefferson's 
famous  remark,  "We  are  all  Republicans,  we  are  all 
Federalists,"  was  destined  shortly  to  represent  the  real 
state  of  things.  When  Monroe  came  into  power  (in 
1817),  the  old  landmarks  were  definitively  obliterated. 
**The  era  of  good  feelings"  had  dawned  in  political  life. 
And  yet  the  Congressional  Caucus,  in  putting  forward 
its  candidates,  repeated  the  old  refrain,  which  exhorted 
the  people  to  rally  round  them  to  confront  the  enemy. 
It  invoked  the  sovereign  cause  of  the  party  when  the 
"party"  no  longer  had  any  particular  cause  and  repre- 
sented only  a  memory  of  the  past.     ■ 

On  the  other  hand,  the  prestige  of  the  leadership 
had  been  systematically  undermined  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century  by  the  social  and  economic  revolution  which 
was  going  on  in  the  American  republic.  The  eclipse 
of  the  Federalists,  who  were  the  living  image  of 
government  by  leaders,  robbed  it  of  one  of  its  strongest 
supports.     The   influence   of   the   clergy,   which  had 


THE  FIRST  PARTY   ORGANIZATIONS  II 

been  one  of  the  main  props  of  the  Federalists,  was 
being  thrust  out  of  lay  society.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  AUeghanies,  on  the  virgin  soil  of  the  West,  a  new 
world  was  growing  up,  free  from  all  traditions,  because 
it  had  no  past;  instinct  with  equality,  because  its  in- 
habitants, who  were  all  new-comers,  parvenus  in  the 
elementary  sense  of  the  word,  resembled  each  other. 
And  this  country  of  the  West  was  advancing  daily  in 
population,  in  wealth,  and  in  political  importance. 
The  triumph  of  Jefferson,  in  1801,  without  effecting  a 
democratic  revolution  in  habits,  gave  an  extraordinary 
impulse  to  the  propaganda  of  democratic  ideas,  made 
them  the  object  of  an  almost  ritual  cult.  Politicians 
vied  with  each  other  in  repeating  that  the  voice  of  the 
people  is  the  voice  of  God,  that  before  the  majesty  of 
the  people  everything  should  bow.  Writers  popularized 
and  gave  point  to  these  ideas. 

The  lesson  which  the  American  citizen  learnt  from 
things  was  not  less  stimulating.  Material  comfort  was 
increasing  with  unprecedented  rapidity.  The  series 
of  great  inventions  which  marked  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  natural  wealth  which  sprang 
from  the  soil,  gave  each  and  all  a  share  in  the  profits  of 
the  economic  revolution.  The  soul  of  the  American 
citizen  swelled  with  pride,  with  the  confidence  of  the 
man  who  is  self-sufficing,  who  knows  no  superiors. 
The  leading  citizens,  therefore,  who  in  Congress  or  in 
the  Legislature  of  his  State,  meeting  in  caucus,  dictated 
to  him  his  line  of  conduct,  the  choice  of  his  representa- 
tives, became  a  set  of  usurpers  in  his  eyes.  About  the 
end  of  Monroe's  second  administration,  the  whole 
Union  became  the  scene  of  a  violent  controversy  about 


the  Caucus. 


12  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

the  next  meeting  of  the  Congressional  Caucus;  it  was 
discussed  in  the  Press  ;  it  occupied  the  public  meetings  ; 
the  State  Legislatures  voted  resolutions  upon  it.  Most 
of  the  numerous  manifestations  of  public  opinion  were 
hostile  to  the  Caucus.  The  popular  meetings  almost 
without  exception  condemned  the  nominations  made 
by  the  Caucus  as  a  flagrant  usurpation  of  the  rights  of 
the  people.^ 
The  fall  of  7.  The  agitation  raised  in  the  country  against  the 
Congressional  Caucus,  and  still  more  the  divisions  in 
Congress,  torn  asunder  this  time  between  several  candi- 
dates, made  the  latter  abandon  the  idea  of  obtaining  the 
coveted  nomination  from  the  Caucus.  One  candidate 
only,  Crawford,  strove  for  it.  The  meeting  of  the 
Caucus  took  place  in  the  hall  of  Congress,  on  February 
14,  1824.  But  of  two  hundred  and  sixteen  members 
summoned,  only  sixty-six  had  responded  to  the  appeal. 
Crawford  obtained  an  almost  unanimous  vote,  but  it  was 
that  of  a  small  minority  of  the  party  only,  and  the 
result  simply  proved  the  inability  of  the  Caucus  to 
effect  the  concentration  which  was  its  raison  d^etre. 
A  battle  royal  was  soon  fought  oyer  the  Caucus  in 
the  Congress  itself.  During  the  discussion  of  the  elec- 
toral system  a  passionate  debate  on  the  Caucus  opened 
in  the  Senate.  Long  indictments  were  delivered  against 
the   "new,   extraordinary,   self -created  central  power, 

^  "The  time  has  now  arrived  when  the  machinations  of  ih&  few 
to  dictate  to  the  many,  however  indirectly  applied,  will  be  met  with 
becoming  firmness,  by  a  people  jealous  of  their  rights  .  .  .  The  only 
unexceptional  source  from  which  nominations  can  proceed  is  the 
people  themselves.  To  them  belongs  the  right  of  choosing;  and 
they  alone  can  with  propriety  take  any  previous  steps. "  (Resolutions 
voted  in  Ohio,  in  1823.) 


THE   FIRST  PARTY  ORGANIZATIONS  1 3 

stronger  than  that  of  the  Constitution."  Its  perpetuation 
will  open  the  door  to  the  greatest  abuses  and  to  corrup- 
tion. "  It  is  an  encroachment  on  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people,  the  more  alarming  inasmuch  as  it  is  exercised 
in  the  corrupt  atmosphere  of  executive  patronage  and 
influence.  Make  me  President,  and  I  will  make  you  a 
Minister,  or  Secretary,  or,  at  all  events,  I  will  provide 
you  with  a  good  berth,  suited  to  your  wants  if  not  to 
your  capacity.  .  .  .  The  President  and  Congress  were 
intended  by  the  wise  framers  of  our  Constitution  to  act 
as  checks  each  upon  the  other,  but,  by  the  system  at 
present  practised,  they  lose  the  benefit  of  this  salutary 
provision." 

The  defenders  of  the  Caucus,  far  more  numerous  in 
the  Senate,  took  rather  a  high  tone  with  its  opponents : 
"The  old  adage  is  that  by  its  fruit  the  tree  shall  be  known. 
What  has  been  the  result  of  this  practice  for  the  last 
twenty  years?  Has  your  Constitution  been  violated? 
Is  not  our  happy  situation  an  object  of  congratulation  ? 
Is  not  every  nation  which  is  striving  to  break  the  fetters 
of  slavery,  looking  to  us  as  the  landmark  by  which  they 
are  to  be  guided?  These  are  the  fruits  of  this  system, 
which  has  been  followed  in  relation  to  the  presidential 
election,  from  1800  up  to  the  present  day;  which  has 
been  sustained  by  the  people;  and  which  has  some  of 
the  greatest  names  of  the  country  to  support  it."  The 
debate  lasted  for  three  days,  more  than  twenty  speakers 
taking  part  in  it.  At  last  the  Senate,  wearied  out,  ad- 
journed the  discussion  sine  die.  But  it  was  clear  to 
every  one  that  the  verdict  had  been  given,  that  the 
Congressional  Caucus  was  doomed.  "King  Caucus  is 
dethroned,"  was  said  on  all  sides.     And  it  made  no 


14 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Collapse  of 
the  whole 
caucus  nom- 
inating 
system 
and  birth 
of  the  con- 
vention 
system. 


attempt  to  recover  its  sovereignty;  the  animadversion 
which  it  aroused  in  the  country  was  too  great. 

8.  The  collapse  of  the  Congressional  Caucus  en- 
tailed that  of  the  whole  system  of  nomination  for 
elective  offices  by  caucuses.  The  Legislative  Caucuses 
in  the  States  had  also  to  retire  before  the  rising  demo- 
cratic tide.  Their  ranks  had  already  been  broken  into 
before  the  explosion  of  democratic  feeling,  which  began 
with  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  the 
Legislative  Caucuses  composed  only  of  members  of  the 
party  in  the  Legislature,  the  districts  in  which  their  party 
was  in  a  minority  were  left  unrepresented,  and  yet  de- 
cisions were  taken  in  them  which  bound  the  party  in  the 
whole  State.  To  meet  the  complaints  made  on  this 
score,  the  caucuses  decided,  towards  the  latter  part  of 
the  first  decade,  to  take  in  delegates  elected  ad  hoc  by 
the  members  of  the  party  in  those  districts.  The  gap 
was  made,  and  it  was  destined  to  go  on  widening  until 
the  whole  people  could  enter  by  it.  The  participation 
of  elected  members,  at  first  exceptional,  became  gradu- 
ally the  rule:  the  candidates  were  nominated  in  con- 
ventions of  delegates  from  the  counties,  in  which  the 
members  of  the  Legislature  were  to  sit  only  in  the 
absence  of  special  envoys.  The  name  of  convention, 
which,  from  the  very  beginning,  was  used  to  designate 
gatherings  of  citizens  from  several  places,  became  in 
the  meantime  the  regular  appellation  of  the  representa- 
tive meetings  of  delegates. 

The  mixed  convention  eventually  made  room  fpr 
the  pure  convention,  composed  solely  of  popular  dele- 
gates elected  on  each  occasion  ad  hoc.  The  first  pure 
convention  was  organized  in  Pennsylvania  in  1817.     In 


THE  FIRST  PARTY  ORGANIZATIONS  1 5 

most  of  the  other  States  the  Legislative  Caucus  dis- 
appeared more  slowly.  In  the  State  of  New  York  it 
kept  the  j&eld  till  1824,  in  spite  of  repeated  attempts 
made  to  supplant  it.  The  force  of  popular  inertia,  the 
power  of  habit,  and  the  prestige  of  leadership  stemmed 
for  some  time  the  growing  tide  of  democracy. 


SECOND   CHAPTER 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  CONVENTION  SYSTEM 

Agitation  Q.   After  the  collapse  of  the  Congressional  Caucus 

on  the      \   jj^   1824,  one  era  in  the  political  life  of  the  United 

presidential     _  ,  ,  ,       .       . 

election  of     States  came  to  an  end ;  another  was  beginning.     But 
1824.  for  the  moment   the  political  stage  was  all  ruins  and 

chaos:  the  old  parties  were  broken  up,  the  new  ones 
were  not  yet  in  existence ;  leadership  was  doomed ;  the 
extra-constitutional  machinery  of  the  caucus,  which 
was  the  base  of  operations  of  the  parties  and  the  leaders, 
went  to  pieces,  while  the  new  base  was  scarcely  outlined. 
This  disorder  broke  out  manifestly  during  the  still  pend- 
ing fight  for  the  presidential  nomination.  The  fiasco 
of  the  last  Congressional  Caucus  confused  still  further 
the  situation. 

Instead  of  the  usual  recommendation  of  a  single  candi- 
date, public  manifestations  occurred  in  various  quarters 
in  favour  now  of  one  and  now  of  another  of  the  several 
competitors.  They  proceeded  alike  from  the  State 
Legislatures,  from  semi-official  gatherings  of  the  mem- 
bers of  Legislatures  meeting  in  caucus,  from  State 
conventions  composed  solely  of  delegates,  and  finally 
from  large  meetings  of  citizens.  Everywhere  people  ex- 
pressed their  opinions,  declared  their  preferences,  and 
they  did  so  with  a  feverish  eagerness,  as  if  they  wished 
to  make  up  for  the  long  abstention  enforced  upon  them 

16 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      1 7 

by  the  exclusive  power  which  the  Congressional  Caucus 
had  wielded.  But  at  the  final  vote  in  the  College  of 
Electors  none  of  the  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
secured  a  majority,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  Con- 
stitution, the  election  passed  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. Of  the  three  candidates  who  had  obtained 
the  most  votes  in  the  Electoral  College,  Jackson,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  and  Crawford,  it  chose  the  second, 
a  statesman  of  the  highest  eminence. 

Hardly  had  the  new  President  entered  on  his 
duties  than  his  less  fortunate  competitors  and  their 
followers  in  Congress  began  a  pitiless  war  on  his 
administration.  The  arch-contriver  of  this  coalition 
was  the  Senator  of  New  York,  Martin  Van  Buren, 
who  has  left  a  name  in  the  history  of  the  United 
States  as  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  great  managers 
and  crack  wire-pullers.  Having  discerned  in  one 
of  the  defeated  candidates,  Jackson,  the  coming 
man,  he  set  himself  to  form  a  party  in  his  ' 
favour.  That  party,  which  was  destined  to  become  the  , 
Democratic  party,  was  at  first  only  an  amalgam  of 
factions  and  of  coteries,  a  coalition  of  individuals 
devoid  of  principles,  with  no  distinct  character.  It 
could  succeed  only  if  carried  on  by  a  powerful  organi- 
zation in  the  country.  Van  Buren  set  to  work  to 
provide  for  this  want,  exceptionally  qualified  for  the 
task  by  a  long  apprenticeship  in  his  native  State, 
which  had  early  developed  the  arts  of  the  politician. 

ID.   The  part  played  in  this  connection  by  the  State  The  New 
of  New  York,  and  the  precedents  which  it  created,  were  ^°  J  . 

'  ^  '  politicians. 

of  such  importance  as  to  deserve  special  mention.     The 
motley  mass  of  the  cosmopolitan  population  of  the  great 


1 8  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

Atlantic  city  soon  precluded  the  austere  government  of 
a  ruling  class  such  as  obtained  on  the  Puritan  soil  of 
New  England,  and  its  political  life  had  long  been  an 
uninterrupted  series  of  struggles  of  rival  condottieri. 
These  were  supplied  at  one  time  by  great  families, 
with  a  large  plebeian  following,  like  the  optimates  in 
Rome;  at  another  by  successful  parvenus,  who 
generally  allied  themselves  with  the  patricians.  More 
intelligent  than  the  Roman  plehs^  less  wretched  and 
above  all  more  alive  to  their  capacity  of  "men  and  citi- 
zens," the  people  of  New  York  required  to  be  managed 
with  skill,  with  science,  to  be  drawn  into  either  of  the 
rival  camps.  Necessity  produced  the  men  and  created 
the  scientific  modes  of  action. 

Among  the  first  of  these  clever  manipulators  of  the 
electoral  material  to  whom  tradition  goes  back  was 
Aaron  Burr,  the  man  who,  after  having  attained  the 
Vice-Presidency  of  the  Republic,  dragged  out  the  long 
and  miserable  existence  of  a  Cain,  abhorred  as  the  mur- 
derer of  Hamilton  and  as  a  traitor  to  his  country.  A 
born  organizer  of  men,  full  of  resource  and  possessing 
considerable  personal  charm,  Burr  was  able  to  gather 
round  him,  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  in  most  of  the 
counties  of  the  State,  men  of  a  similar  stamp,  who  com- 
bined great  skill  and  activity  with  unbounded  devotion 
to  their  chief.  Over  the  whole  area  of  the  State  they 
formed  a  sort  of  net,  the  meshes  of  which  served  for 
catching  the  voters.  Their  power  of  attraction  con- 
sisted in  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  various  elements 
of  the  electorate  and  a  consummate  skill  in  combination 
and  negotiation,  whether  in  the  making  up  of  the  lists 
of  the  candidates,  or  in  the  distribution  of  rewards  after 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      1 9 

the  victory  in  the  form  of  public  offices  and  dignities. 
For  principles  and  convictions  nobody  cared  a  rap. 

Aaron  Burr  had  a  host  of  imitators.  One  of  his  lead- 
ing disciples,  the  most  eminent  in  fact,  was  Martin 
Van  Buren.  Beneath  these  head  wire-pullers  there 
grew  up  in  New  York,  in  the  first  instance,  and  then 
in  other  places,  a  large  personnel  engaged  specially  in 
politics,  attracted  everywhere  by  a  desire  for  public  em- 
ployment. From  the  very  foimdation  of  the  United 
States,  the  lucrative  posts,  on  a  comparatively  modest 
scale,  which  the  public  service  could  offer,  were  sought 
after  with  eagerness.  For  a  considerable  time  the 
office-seekers  were  stopped  by  the  small  number  of 
places  as  well  as  by  the  existence  of  a  ruling  class,  which 
had  a  prior  claim  on  them,  in  the  natural  course  of 
things.  This  competition  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with 
the  democratic  ferment  which  set  in  during  the  first 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

But  in  proportion  as  the  old  generation  which  had 
founded  the  Republic  disappeared,  as  the  development; 
of  the  country  entailed  that  of  the  public  service,  and 
the  political  contingents  increased  through  the  exten- 
sion of  the  suffrage,  the  scramble  for  the  loaves  and 
fishes  became  closer  and  keener.  There  arose  a  whole 
class  of  men  of  low  degree  who  applied  all  their  energies 
in  this  direction,  who  sought  their  means  of  subsistence 
in  politics,  and  especially  in  its  troubled  waters.  The 
social  and  political  state  of  affairs  in  New  York,  referred 
to  above,  was  particularly  favourable  to  the  rise  of  this 
type  of  individual.  The  neighbouring  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, also  a  prey  to  factions  and  extremely  democratic 
in  tone,  had  likewise  at  an  early  stage  let  in  the  small 


\ 


20  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

politicians.  In  the  other  States  they  were  not  so  com- 
mon, but  everywhere  they  presented,  by  the  beginning 
of  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  distinct 
element  in  society,  which  lowered  politics  and  gave  an 
invidious  signification  to  the  very  term  of  "politician," 
the  original  etymological  meaning  of  which  denoted 
simply  persons  engaged  in  public  affairs. 
The  poll-  II.   The  arts  of  management  developed  in  the  political 

ticians,  atmosphere  of  New  York  were  now  about  to  be  applied 

Jackson,  ^  ^  ^ 

and  the  by  Van  Buren  on  a  more  extensive  scale  and  on  a.  larger 
Demos.  stage.  He  formed  committees  throughout  the  Union 
to  sweep  up  adherents  for  Jackson  and  stir  the  electorate 
by  speaking  and  writing,  in  public  meetings  and  private 
gatherings.  The  staff  required  for  the  performance 
of  this  task,  and  a  picked  one,  was  ready  to  hand,  — 
the  "politicians."  As  soon  as  J.  Q.  Adams  became 
,  President,  in  1825,  Jackson's  friends  shouted  that  the 

^  will  of  the  people  had  been  violated  by  the  choice  made 

by  the  House,  for  the  chief  magistracy,  of  J.  Q.  Adams 
in  preference  to  the  candidate  most  favoured  by  'the 
popular  vote,  Andrew  Jackson.  The  Constitution  no 
doubt  left  the  House  complete  freedom  of  choice,  but 
it  had  used  it  in  a  manner  contrary  to  the  democratic 
principle.  By  means  of  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  the 
people  had  been  balked  of  its  rights !  These  charges 
aroused  in  honest  and  simple  souls  a  profound  indig- 
nation, a  regular  exasperation  against  the  enemies  of  the 
people.  These  enemies  were  all  the  men  of  intelligence, 
of  culture,  of  wealth,  of  social  refinement.  They 
aroused  popular  jealousy  not  only  by  the  monopoly  of 
political  power  which  they  enjoyed  and  which  caused 
the  revolt  against  the  Caucus ;  they  irritated  the  sus- 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      21 

ceptibilities  of  the  masses  still  more  by  the  social  su- 
premacy which  they  assumed  and  which  made  them  in 
fact  a  sort  of  caste  on  the  levelled  soil  of  the  New  World. 
General  Jackson,  on  the  other  hand,  without  being  a 
demagogue,  had  no  equal  in  flattering  the  instincts  and 
the  passions  of  the  people. 

The  politicians  vigorously  exploited  the  feelings 
which  inclined  the  masses  towards  Jackson,  conduct- 
ing their  campaign  with  an  unprecedented  virulence.  He 
was  triumphantly  elected.  He  and  his  friends  regarded 
their  success  as  the  victory  of  the  Demos.  So  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  Demos  was  immense.  Jackson  ap- 
peared as  a  new  Joshua,  who  led  the  chosen  people  into 
the  promised  land  wrested  from  the  "enlightened 
classes,"  and  the  people  following  in  Jackson's  train 
flocked  to  take  possession  of  it.  "Persons  have 
come  five  hundred  miles  (with  no  railways !)  to  see 
Jackson,"  wrote  Webster,  "and  they  really  seem  to 
think  that  the  country  is  rescued  from  some  dreadful 
danger." 

12.  The  vast  popular  army  which  marched  tri-  EstabHsh- 
umphantly  through  the  streets  of  Washington  dispersed  ^^^^  ^f  the 
to  their  homes,  but  one  of  its  divisions  remained,  the 
corps  of  marauders  which  followed  it.  This  was  com- 
posed of  the  politicians.  They  wanted  their  spoils. 
By  way  of  remuneration  for  their  services  they  de- 
manded places  in  the  administration.  They  filled  the 
air  of  Washington  like  locusts,  they  swarmed  in  the  halls 
and  lobbies  of  the  public  buildings,  in  the  adjoining 
streets  they  besieged  the  residences  of  Jackson  and  his 
ministers.  Jackson  hastened  to  admit  the  justice  of 
their  claim.     His  official  newspaper  had  already  an- 


spoils  sys- 
tem. 


22  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

noimced  beforehand  that  he  would  "  reward  his  friends 
and  punish  his  enemies."  The  punishment  began  at 
once.  Many  government  servants  were  dismissed  with- 
out a  hearing  and  without  a  word  of  explanation,  for 
the  sole  reason  that  they  were,  or  were  suspected  of 
having  been,  hostile  to  Jackson  and  that  their  places  were 
wanted.  Every  official  was  henceforth  at  the  mercy  of 
informers.  A  reign  of  terror  set  in  in  the  public  depart- 
ments. During  the  first  year  of  his  Presidency  Jackson 
cashiered  or  got  rid  of  more  than  two  thousand  persons, 
whereas  all  his  predecessors  together  had  dismissed, 
from  the  foundation  of  the  Republic,  only  seventy-four 
public  servants,  several  of  them  for  cause.  The  new 
men  who  were  put  in  the  place  of  the  old  ones  were  often 
quite  incompetent;  their  sole  merit  was  that  they  had 
"helped  Jackson." 

The  "rewarding  of  friends  and  the  pimishment  of 
enemies,"  carried  to  such  lengths  by  Jackson,  was  not  a 
practice  altogether  unknown  in  the  United  States.  It 
had  been  in  vogue,  and  for  a  considerable  time  past, 
both  in  the  State  of  New  York  and  in  Pennsylvania. 
Already  in  Aaron  Burr's  time,  towards  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  in  the  contests  of  the  New  York 
factions,  the  winning  side  laid  hands  on  the  public 
offices.  The  elaborate  organization  formed  by  Van 
Buren  in  the  State  of  New  York  had  developed  this 
method.  And  when,  some  time  afterwards,  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  Van  Buren  was  accused  of 
having  initiated  these  practices,  one  of  his  associates, 
Senator  Marcy,  protested  against  the  charge  as  not  in- 
volving anything  reprehensible :  "The  politicians  preach 
what  they  practise.     When  they  are  contending  for 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE   CONVENTION  SYSTEM      23 

victory  they  avow  their  intention  of  enjoying  the  fruits 
of  it.  They  see  nothing  wrong  in  the  rule  that  to  the 
victor  belong  the  spoils  of  the  enemy."  This  remark 
about  "the  spoils  to  the  victor"  became  famous  and 
passed  into  everyday  language. 

The  whole  Union  was  destined  to  fall  a  victim  to  this 
system,  because  its  political  situation  became  similar 
to  that  of  New  York.  The  old  political  supremacy 
wielded  by  the  dite  of  the  nation,  which  radiated 
from  Washington,  having  been  shattered  with  the  Con-  y 
gressional  Caucus,  the  leadership  crumbled  into  a  thou-  A^ 
sand  fragments ;  it  passed  to  an  innumerable  crowd  of 
petty  local  leaders  who  stood  nearer  to  the  masses,  but 
who  too  often  were  only  needy  adventurers.  And  yet 
it  was  their  services  which  had  to  be  resorted  to  for  build- 
ing up  the  party  without  principles  which  was  got  to- 
gether under  Jackson's  name,  and  to  keep  up  this  me- 
chanical aggregation  there  was  nothing  but  the  artificial 
cement  of  "rewards  and  punishments."  Moreover,  the 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  new  President  did  not  need  to 
put  up  with  the  spoils  system :  he  was  no  other  than 
Martin  Van  Buren. 

The  practice  of  the  politicians  was  soon  countenanced  Rotation, 
by  the  theory  which  asserted  that  in  a  democratic  gov- 
ernment public  offices  were  not  personal  property,  and 
that  every  citizen  had  a  right  to  share  in  the  emoluments 
of  the  public  service.  Jackson  boldly  proclaimed  this 
theory  in  his  first  presidential  message.  He  defended 
there  the  dismissals  carried  out  by  him,  explaining  that 
the  welfare  of  the  service  demanded  frequent  change  of 
officials,  for  those  who  were  permanent  fixtures  inevit- 
ably became  indifferent  to  the  public  interest ;  that  the 


24  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

service  lost  more  by  keeping  them  than  it  gained  by  their 
experience.  "The  rotation,"  declared  the  President, 
"constituted  a  first  principle  in  the  Republican  creed." 
The  application  of  these  "first  republican  principles," 
of  the  rotation  and  division  of  the  spoils,  very  soon 
threw  the  whole  province  of  public  life  into  grave 
disorder;  it  deteriorated  the  public  service  by  de- 
stroying all  stability,  by  setting  up  intrigue  and  favour 
in  place  of  merit  and  professional  zeal,  and  left  the 
door  open  to  adventurers  and  hungry  mercenaries. 
The  organized  parties  alone  benefited  by  that  system ; 
it  furnished  them  with  armies  of  election  agents 
scattered  all  over  the  country,  ready  to  do  anything 
to  secure  the  triumph  of  the  party;  for  their  own  fate 
was  at  stake. 
Develop-  CjS-  The  Staff  of  these  armies,  as  we  are  already  aware, 
ment  of  the    y^^i^  supplied  by  the  delegates'  conventions,  which  from 

convention         „  i       i        i  i   i 

system.  ^^24  onwards  developed  by  a  contmuous  process  mto 

a  highly  finished  system.  Established  at  first  in  a  more 
or  less  sporadic  fashion,  the  conventions  became  gen- 
eral and  spread  throughout  the  country,  falling  accord- 
ing to  the  territorial  units  and  electoral  divisions  into 
State,  district,  county  conventions,  etc.,  and  ended  by 
covering  the  whole  Union  in  a  regular  and  exhaustive 
manner.  This  process,  which  began  towards  the  end 
of  Monroe's  administration,  lasted  no  less  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  In  the  East,  where  the  ground  had  been 
so  admirably  prepared,  especially  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania,  the  States  of  the  politicians,  the  popular 
representative  party  organization  developed  quickly 
and  at  once  laid  hold  of  the  electorate,  but  it  was  not 
quite  the  same  thing  in  the  South  and  the  West)    In 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   TIIE    CONVENTION   SYSTEM      2$ 

certain  parts  of  the  West,  as  in  Illinois,  the  new  system 
was  received  with  suspicion.  People  smelt  a  "Yankee 
contrivance  destined  to  abridge  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
by  depriving  individuals,  on  their  own  mere  motion,  of 
the  privilege  of  becoming  candidates,  and  depriving  each 
man  of  the  right  to  vote  for  a  candidate  of  his  own  selec- 
tion and  choice." 

But  the  opposition  which  the  convention  system  en-  New  po- 
countered  could  not  prevail  aerainst  it,  for  it  corresponded  ^^^^^^^  ^"^ 

.  .  social  con- 

to  too  many  mterests  and  wants,  passions  and  cravmgs.   ditions 

The  democratic  impulse  which  carried  Jackson  into  favourable 
power  had  forced  the  way,  in  the  constitutional  sphere, 
for  two  important  changes :  the  introduction  of  universal  j 
suffrage,  and  the  very  considerable  extension  of  the 
elective  principle  to  public  offices.  The  number  of 
voters  increased,  and  the  task  of  each  one  became  vast 
and  highly  complicated.  And  yet  many  new  members 
of  the  sovereign  people,  especially  in-  the  industrial 
and  manufacturing  centres  which  were  beginning  to 
arise,  had  no  insight  into  public  affairs,  and  almost  all 
had  no  spare  time^  The  haste  to  get  rich  was  infecting 
the  whole  nation  with  such  intensity  that  in  point  of 
fact  the  effective  exercise  of  its  political  rights  was  be- 
coming rather  an  embarrassment  to  it  than  otherwise. 
Yet  the  pride  and  the  consciousness  of  its  strength 
which  filled  the  new  American  democracy  could  not 
assent  to  a  formal  abdication.  The  American  wanted 
at  least  the  illusion  of  enjoying  and  using  his  rights. 

The  new  institution  introduced  into  the  political  life 
of  the  United  States  met  admirably  all  these  require- 
ments. The  convention,  by  nominating  the  candidates 
for  all  the  elective  offices  and  settling  the  programmes, 


26 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE  PARTY   SYSTEM 


Completion 
of  the 
system. 


> 


relieved  the  American  of  the  most  difficult  task  for  a 
citizen  of  a  free  country,  and  he  appeared  none  the  less 
to  remain  absolute  master  of  the  situation,  since  the 
members  of  the  convention  were  merely  his  instructed 
messengers.  Nay,  the  prerogatives  with  which  the  Con- 
stitution had  invested  him  were  extended:  not  only 
could  not  a  member  now  be  created  without  his  interven- 
tion, but  not  even  a  simple  candidate.  Again,  the  con- 
ventions satisfied  ambitions  and  appetites,  of  a  more  or 
less  legitimate  kind,  aroused  by  the  advent  of  a  new  social 
strata.  They  provided  a  ladder  for  the  "new  men" 
who  aspired  to  public  offices.  To  others  who,  eager  for 
a  sphere  of  public  activity  and  influence,  could  not  find 
room  within  the  limited  area  of  the  Constitution,  the 
conventions  offered  a  sort  of  substitute  for  it  in  their 
organization  modelled  on  the  constitutional  fabric 
with  their  hierarchy,  their  powers,  their  dignitaries.  Fi- 
nally, they  were  of  still  higher  value  to  the  more  vulgar 
and  far  more  numerous  ambitions,  represented  by  the 
new  breed  of  politicians. 

(All  these  advantages  which  the  conventions  offered, 
from  various  points  of  view,  were  completed  and  en- 
hanced by  the  establishment,  towards  the  end  of  Jack- 
son's first  Presidency,  of  a  central  Organization,  in  the 
-form  of  national  conventions.  Placed  on  the  top  of  the 
local  conventions,  the  national  convention  formed  with 
them  a  complete  extra-constitutional  machinery  which 
became  the  axis  of  party  government  now  definitively 
installed  in  the  American  Republic.  The  national  con- 
ventions were  composed  of  delegates  chosen  by  the 
State  conventions  and  the  district  conventions,  which, 
in  their  turn,  were  composed  of  delegates  sent  by  the 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      27 

county  conventions,  these  latter  emanating  directly  from 
the  primary  meetings  of  the  citizens.  While  the  local 
conventions  took  charge  of  the  elective  offices  in  the 
States  and  in  Congress,  the  national  conventions  under- 
took the  duty  of  nominating  the  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  and  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  Union. 
Side  by  side  with  the  conventions,  which  met  from  time 
to  time  only  for  the  discharge  of  the  special  and  mo- 
mentary duty  of  nomination  of  candidates,  there  grew 
up  a  permanent  Organization  in  the  form  of  committees 
for  each  territorial  unit,  for  the  State,  the  county,  the 
township,  the  ward,  which  summoned  the  conventions 
and  the  primary  assemblies,  undertook  all  the  prelimi- 
narv  business,  and  in  general  managed  the  election 
work?) 

14.  The  National  Convention,  which  took  the  place  Firet 
of  the  Congressional  Caucus,  as  regards  the  selection  of  national 
candidates  for  the  two  chief  offices  of  the  Republic,  did  ^ 
not  succeed  to  it  at  once.  After  the  fall  of  the  Congres- 
sional Caucus  there  was  an  interregnum  of  a  few  years. 
The  first  national  convention  was  brought  about  by  a 
casual  episode.  A  freemason  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
who  wanted  to  write  a  book  divulging  the  secrets  of  the 
order,  having  disappeared  in  a  mysterious  way,  a  report 
was  circulated  that  he  had  been  captured  by  the  free- 
masons and  murdered  by  them.  The  indignation 
aroused  by  this  alleged  crime  turned  against  freemas- 
onry and  in  a  short  time  extended  from  one  State 
to  another.  Very  soon  the  enemies  of  freemasonry 
became  so  numerous  that  they  thought  themselves 
strong  enough  to  contest  elections  throughout  the  Union 
and  to  dislodge  freemasonry  from  the  political  power 


28  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

which,  according  to  its  antagonists,  was  its  principal 
object.  A  general  convention  of  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  anti-masonic  delegates,  from  different  parts  of 
the  Union,  met  at  Baltimore  in  183 1,  and  nominated 
candidates  for  the  Presidency  and  the  Vice-Presidency. 
Defeated  at  the  polls,  the  anti-masons  soon  disappeared 
as  an  organized  party. 

(iut  the  example  of  the  national  convention  which 
they  introduced  was  followed  immediately  by  the  op- 
ponents of  Jackson  and  then  by  his  supporters.  The 
former  had  amalgamated,  more  or  less  satisfactorily, 
imder  the  common  denomination  of  National  Republi- 
cans. Their  most  brilliant  champion,  Henry  Clay, 
was  clearly  marked  out  for  contesting  the  Presidency 
with  Jackson.  A  national  convention  of  delegates  of 
\  this  party  met  at  Baltimore  in  December,  183 1.  It  be- 
came the  true  prototype  of  those  great  periodical  party 
assizes  which  from  that  time  to  this  have  played  a  unique 
part  in  the  political  life  of  the  United  States,  The 
convention  was  attended  by  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
delegates,  representing  eighteen  States  and  the  District 
of  Columbia.  Owing  to  the  difficulties  of  travelling 
many  States  were  unrepresented.  The  gathering  was 
nevertheless  an  imposing  one.  Clay  was  nominated 
unanimously. 
Wire-  Jackson's   followers,    the   Democratic   Republicans, 

pullers.  ^g^  -j^  ^Yie'iT  tum,  in  national  convention,  at  Baltimore  in 
May,  1832,  not  to  nominate  the  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, who  was  of  course  Jackson  himself,  but  to  sol- 
emnly proclaim  the  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 
Jackson  chose  Martin  Van  Buren  for  this  post,  to  re- 
ward him  for  his  devotion  to  him,  but  Van  Buren  was 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  CONVENTION   SYSTEM  •  29 

far  from  enjoying  widespread  respect  in  the  count?^ 
The  Convention  was  to  be  the  means  of  obtaining  it  for 
him ;  this  plan  was  hit  upon,  even  before  the  Convention 
of  National  Republicans,  by  Jackson's  intimates,  who 
formed  a  sort  of  occult  government  around  him  known 
as  the  "kitchen  cabineL!!  With  the  help  of  Jackson's 
trusty  followers  in  the  several  States  the  kitchen  cabi- 
net succeeded  in  getting  up  in  the  country  a  movement 
for  demanding  a  national  convention.  This  movement 
was  the  first  example  of  great  manifestations  of  opinion, 
apparently  spontaneous,  but  in  reality  produced  by  a 
machinery  with  popular  forms  which  screened  the 
doings  of  the  wire-pullers.  The  convention,  which 
met,  acclaimed  Jackson  and  nominated  Martin  Van 
Buren  for  the  Vice-Presidency  by  a  considerable  ma- 
jority. 

The  triumphant  re-election  of  Jackson,  in  1832,  con- 
firmed his  prestige  with  the  masses  and  his  power  over 
the  "politicians,"  who  obeyed  him  implicitly, — so 
much  so  that  he  was  able  to  designate  his  successor,  like 
a  Roman  emperor.  It  was  the  trusty  Martin  Van  Buren, 
Vice-President  by  the  grace  of  Jackson,  who  was  des- 
tined to  inherit  the  presidential  office.  And  on  this 
occasion  again  it  was  by  means  of  a  national  conven- 
tion that  he  was  to  be  thrust  on  the  Electors  as  the 
deliberate  choice  of  the  party.  The  opposition  to  this 
plan,  which  manifested  itself,  was  declared  by  Jackson 
to  be  high  treason  against  the  people.  The  convention 
met  in  1835 ;  it  was  composed  to  a  great  extent  of  office- 
holders— that  is,  of  men  absolutely  under  the  thumb  of 
the  administration.  The  anti-Jacksonian  party,  which 
had  for  some  time  past  taken  the  name  of  Whig,  did 


.\ 


3°  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

not  hold  a  national  convention  for  the  election  of  1836 : 
it  was  not  harmonious  enough.  That  was  the  only 
exception.  At  the  presidential  election  of  1840  Whigs 
and  Democrats  both  had  recourse  to  national  conven- 
tions, which  from  that  time  became  the  only  central 
official  party  organ. 
Conven-  15.   The  working  of  the  new  Organization  revealed 

*T"ffi^""  almost  at  once  the  unhealthy  politico-social  conditions 
holders.  amid  which  it  was  introduced.  The  primary  meetings, 
out  of  which  sprang  all  the  successive  delegations  con- 
stituting the  hierarchy  of  the  conventions,  were  deserted 
by  the  great  body  of  citizens  ;  and  the  politicians,  aided 
by  their  friends,  easily  got  control  of  them  and  bestowed 
on  themselves  the  nominations  to  the  more  or  less  lu- 
crative posts  which  they  coveted.  The  Organization 
in  all  its  grades  was  full  of  office-holders ;  they  not  only 
acted  behind  the  scenes,  but  attended  the  various  con- 
ventions in  a  body  as  delegates,  and  very  often  formed 
the  great  majority  in  these  assemblies ;  in  election  time 
they  devoted  all  their  energies  to  the  support  of  the  candi- 
dates of  their  party. 

Attempts  were  repeatedly  made  to  prohibit  the  in- 
tervention of  public  officers  in  politics,  but  without  suc- 
cess. They  openly  neglected  their  duties  for  their 
"work"  in  the  party  organizations,  because  this  "work" 
alone  counted  and  bore  fruit.  "  Politics  is  the  business 
of  the  office-holder,"  observed  a  newspaper  of  the  day, 
"as  much  as  agriculture  is  the  business  of  the  farmer. 
It  is  his  trade,  the  craft  by  which  he  thrives.  Hence 
he  is  interested  to  establish  some  means  by  which 
he  may  control  them,  and  the  conventions  are  the  very 
thing  for  him.     The  multitude  cannot  go  to  caucuses 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      3 1 

and  conventions;  they  are  necessarily  made  up  of  the 
office-holders  and  their  agents;  and  when  they  once 
agree  upon  their  man,  he  is  put  forth  as  the  regular 
nomination." 

[True,  if  the  voter  refused  to  vote  for  the  candidates  Independ- 
chosen  by  the  convention,  "  no  one  could  be  pimished  ^"^^  °^  ^^® 

voters 

for  treason  in  so  doing,"  says  a  publicist  of  that  time,  stifled. 
"  otherwise  than  by  losing  the  favour  of  his  party  and 
being  denounced  as  a  traitor;  which  was  almost  as 
efficacious  in  restraining  the  refractory  as  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  treason,  the  hanging  and  embowelling  of 
former  times. '^  fro  this  moral  constraint  was  added 
another  imposed  by  the  practical  necessities  of  the 
vote,  which  definitively  stifled  the  independence  of  the 
voters.  The  number  of  the  elective  offices,  and  conse- 
quently of  the  elections  to  be  conducted,  having  become 
very  large,  the  custom  arose,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
politicians,  of  holding  them  all  at  once,  for  the  offices 
of  the  city,  of  the  county,  of  the  State,  and  of  the  Union, 
and  on  a  single  list.  It  was  becoming  difficult,  and  even 
impossible,  for  voters  left  to  their  own  inspiration  to 
make  up  so  long  a  voting  papefT)  The  conventions  and 
their  committees  helped  them  out  of  the  difficulty  by 
making  up  for  them  the  list  of  candidates,  the  " ticket,'* 
and  the  voters  were  forced  willy-nilly  to  accept  it  and 
vote  it  whole ;  for  if  they  did  not  vote  it  in  its  entirety, 
they  increased  the  chances  of  the  opposite  side,  which 
would  vote  its  whole  list. 

The  great  body  of  the  citizens  were  thus  reduced  to  Better 
the  position  of  dummies,  or  rather  they  had    reduced  citizens 

..,  .,,         '        e  11-      desert  pub- 

themselves  to  that  position  by  withdrawing  from  public  uc  life, 
life,     Not  only  did  the  commercial  classes  which  formed 


32 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Revolt 
against 
Jacksonian 
democracy. 


Clay  re- 
jected. 


the  great  majority  of  the  nation  become  completely  en- 
grossed in  their  private  interests,  but  political  indiffer- 
ence infected  even  the  intellectual  leaders  of  the  nation, 
the  men  in  the  liberal  professions.  The  separation  of 
society  from  politics  became  the  leading  fact  of  the 
situation;  the  nation  had,  as  it  were,  split  into  two 
^absolutely  distinct  parts:  a  large  majority,  which  was 
jtoiling,  developing,  and  growing  rich,  and  a  small, 
[active  minority,  full  of  passions  and  still  more  of  ap- 
petites, which  was  monopolizing  political  action.  The 
public  administration,  which  this  minority  invaded,  was 
soon  filled  with  an  atmosphere  of  corruption;  scandal- 
ous abuses,  shameless  devices  of  plunder  of  the  treasury 
and  of  the  public,  speedily  came  to  light  in  it. 

1 6.  These  scandals  would  not,  perhaps,  have  roused 
public  opinion  if  the  country  had  been  in  a  prosperous 
state.  But  it  was  suffering  severely  from  the  economic 
crisis  which  broke  out  in  1837,  soon  after  the  retirement 
of  Jackson  and  the  accession  of  Van  Buren.  The 
party  in  power  was  made  responsible  for  it,  and  the 
country  resounded  with  the  cry:  "Away  with  the 
spoilers !"  The  Whigs  offered  themselves  as  liberators. 
They  no  doubt  contained  the  dlite  of  the  community, 
the  men  of  means  and  of  intelligence,  but  here  as  well 
as  in  the  rival  camp  the  politicians  held  the  outposts 
and  directed  the  operations. 

The  Whig  national  convention,  which  met,  in  1839, 
at  Harrisburg  to  nominate  the  candidates  for  the  Presi- 
dency, supplied  only  too  eloquent  proof  of  it.  The 
candidate  was  marked  out  beforehand  by  the  whole 
history  of  the  party  which  for  the  last  fifteen  years  had 
been  contending  with  the  Jacksonian  democracy;    he 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      33 

was  the  great  Whig  leader,  Henry  Clay,  an  illustrious 
statesman,  a  great  orator,  and  gifted  with  a  personal 
charm  which  won  all  hearts.     But  the  politicians  were 
afraid  that  at  the  election  he  would  not  be  able  to 
rally  the  votes  of  all  the  adversaries  of  Van  Buren, 
many    of    whom    were    not     Whigs.     They    thought 
that  a  candidate  less  compromised  in  the  struggles  of 
the  parties  would  be  more  likely  to  gain  the  victory  and 
its  fruits.      By  means  of  niceties  of  procedure  which 
provided  for  each  delegation  balloting  separately,  they       \ 
succeeded   in    leaving  Clay  in  a  minority  and  finally    1 
agreed  on  the  name  of  a  somewhat  obscure  personage,    | 
General  Harrison,  whose  principal  claim  consisted  in 
victories  won  by  him   thirty  years  previously   in  en- 
counters with  tribes  of  Red  Indians.  ^^x"*^*"^ 

The  election  campaign  which  now  began  revealed  the  "Tippe- 
methods  by  which  men  put  forward  by  the  conventions  ^"°^  ^^, 
could  be  foisted  on  the  country  in  spite  of  their  medi- 
ocrity. Hitherto  all  the  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
had  been  statesmen  of  more  or  less  eminence,  with  a 
national  reputation ;  Jackson  had  no  record  as  a  states- 
man, but  he  was  borne  along  by  the  impetuous  torrent 
of  triumphant  democracy ;  Van  Buren  had  been  thrust 
on  the  nation  by  the  immense  prestige  of  Jackson.  Har- 
rison possessed  none  of  these  qualifications.  But  the 
Whig  Organization  set  to  work  to  "raise  enthusiasm" 
in  his  favour  by  devices  which  aimed  especially  at  the 
imagination  and  the  senses  of  the  masses.  Monster 
meetings,  processions,  parades,  spectacular  entertain- 
ments of  every  kind,  songs,  were  all  so  many  opportu- 
nities for  shouting,  for  howling  out  Harrison's 
name   without   further  reference  to   the   virtues   and 


34  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

qualities    which    marked    him    out     for     the     chief 
magistracy. 

j\  Democratic  newspaper  in  the  East  having  said,  by 
way  of  ridiculing  the  mediocrity  of  the  Whig  candi- 
date, that  if  Harrison  were  given  a  log  cabin  and  hard 
cider  he  would  rather  stay  at  home  in  the  West,  the 
Whigs  immediately  took  up  the  remark  as  an  insult  to 
their  candidate,  adopted  "log  cabin  and  hard  cider"  as 
their  motto  and  made  it  their  war-cry.  Harrison  was 
I  the  "log  cabin"  candidate,  the  man  of  the  people,  liv- 
]  ing  its  frugal  and  simple  life  and  cultivating  all  its  vir- 
tues, offering  hospitality  to  every  passer-by,  who  found 
the  door  open  and  a  glass  of  cider  on  the  table,  whereas 
Van  Buren  inhabited  a  palace  and  ate  with  gold 
spoons  and  forks.  Everywhere  log  cabins  were  run  up, 
models  of  them  were  paraded  in  procession  through  the 
streets,  ornaments  for  women  were  made  of  them,  med- 
als were  struck  with  them.  Meetings  organized  in  the 
open  air  drew  enormous  crowds,  people  brought  their 
wives  and  children.  Torrents  of  oratory  flowed  at  the 
meetings,  but  it  was  devoid  of  sense ;  it  did  not  seek  to 
enlighten  the  mind  or  to  bring  home  convictions,  but 
to  strike  the  imagination.  This  effect  was  obtained 
mainly  by  political  songs  composed  for  the  occasion, 
which,  passing  from  mouth  to  mouth,  produced  a  down- 
right frenzy,  absurd  as  they  were.  ^  Clubs  and  associa- 
tions of  young  men  were  formed  throughout  the  country 
with  the  special  duty  of  keeping  up  the  hurly-burly. 

*  The  most  famous  of  these  songs  was  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler 
too."  Tippecanoe  was  Harrison's  nickname,  given  him  in  memory 
of  his  victory  over  the  Indians  at  Tippecanoe;  Tyler  was  the  name 
of  the  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency  adopted  by  the  Whig  national 
convention  at  the  same  time  as  Harrison  for  the  Presidency. 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      35 

The  Union  was  turned  into  a  huge  fair;  for  months 
there  was  a  continuous  carnival,  with  a  whole  people 
for  actors.  The  success  of  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler 
too"  at  the  poll  was  extraordinary;  the  majority  ob- 
tained by  the  Whig  candidate  over  his  rival,  Van  Buren, 
surpassed  all  expectations^ 


THIRD   CHAPTER 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CONVENTION   SYSTEM 

Spoils  •  17-   The  change  of  parties  in  power  effected  by  the 

system  election  of   1840  only  made  it  more  evident  that  the 

political  manners  and  methods  brought  into  fashion  by 
the  Jacksonian  democracy  were  not  a  transitory  mani- 
festation. The  Whigs  had  rushed  into  the  fight  to  the 
V  cry  of  "Away  with  the  spoilers,"  but  hardly  was  the 
battle  over  than  they  flung  themselves  on  the  spoils. 
Twelve  years'  waiting  in  opposition  had  given  a  keen 
edge  to  their  appetites.  As  on  the  accession  of 
Jackson,  Washington  presented  the  spectacle  of  a  city 
invaded  by  office-seekers.  The  new  means  of  locomo- 
tion, the  railways,  which  did  not  exist  in  1829,  facilitated 
this  invasion  of  the  hungry  host  in  a  peculiar  degree. 
Before  the  new  President  had  entered  on  office  his  future 
ministers  were  beset  by  applicants,  who  were  not  all 
small,  needy  politicians;  among  them  were  Members 
of  Congress,  Senators  of  the  United  States.  When 
Harrison  took  up  his  abode  in  the  White  House,  the 
rush  became  tremendous;  the  applicants  literally 
pursued  the  ministers  and  the  President  day  and  night ; 
a  good  many  candidates  for  office  slept  in  the  corridors 
of  the  White  House,  to  catch  the  President  the  next 
morning  as  soon  as  he  got  up ;  there  were  no  fixed  times 
for  audiences,  the  "log  cabin"  President  indulged  in  a 

36 


THE    EVOLUTION   OF   THE    CONVENTION   SYSTEM      37 

simplicity  which  allowed  everyone  to  have  access  to  him. 
But  his  great  age  could  not  stand  the  fatigues  and  wor- 
ries caused  by  the  never-ending  crowd  of  applicants,  and 
he  died  after  one  month  of  office. 

He  was  succeeded,  in  accordance  with  the  Constitu- 
tion, by  the  Vice-President,  Tyler.  Originally  a  Democrat, 
who  parted  from  Jackson  without  embracing  the  Whig 
creed,  mistrusted  or  disowned  by  either  party,  Tyler 
fancied  that  he  could  create  a  personal  party  which 
would  carry  him  into  the  Presidency  for  another  term, 
or  even  for  two  terms.  To  recruit  adherents,  the  Presi- 
dent turned  out  the  officials  devoted  to  the  Whigs,  and 
replaced  them  by  his  own  creatures.  He  gained  noth- 
ing by  this ;  it  was  the  genuine  Democratic.candidate  who 
won  the  victory  at  the  presidential  election  of  1844. 
As  soon  as  he  came  into  power,  the  new  President  in  his 
turn  upset  the  public  service  even  more  completely 
than  his  predecessors  had  done ;  almost  all  the  Federal 
officials  were  changed  to  make  room  for  the  victors. 

From  that  time  it  became  the  rule  that  every  change  of  The  "party 
President  involved  as  a  matter  of  right  the  dismissal  of  all  g^^^^^^^^^- 
public  servants  appointed  by  his  predecessor  of  the  op- 
posite party.  As  soon  as  the  new  President  entered  on 
his  office,  the  "guillotine  of  the  party"  was  set  going 
for  the  greater  triumph  of  the  so-called  democratic 
principle  of  "rotation,"  which  was  alleged  to  be  essen- 
tial to  the  preservation  of  popular  liberties.  For  the 
struggle  for  office  kept  the  political  mind  of  the  nation 
on  the  alert,  while  participation  in  public  honours  was 
an  incentive  to  the  citizen  to  remain  loyal  to  free  institu- 
tions. "It  is  a  great  American  principle,"  said  a 
member  in  his  place  in  the  Senate,  in  1846,  "  it  lies 


38 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


National 
conventions 
managed 
for  the 
spoils. 


at  the  foundation  of  our  government."  In  vain  did 
men  of  the  stamp  of  Webster  and  Calhoun  raise  their 
voice  against  these  practices  and  these  theories.  At 
last  there  was  no  need  even  of  a  change  of  the  party  in 
power  to  carry  out  the  hecatomb  of  office-holders,  the 
principle  of  rotation  enjoined  it  even  when  the  party 
was  confirmed  in  power  by  the  new  election ;  those  who 
had  feasted  were  obliged  to  make  way  for  their  hungry 
political  coreligionists.  That  was  according  to  justice; 
it  was  also  necessary  for  maintaining  the  party, 
as  the  Democratic  President  Buchanan,  who  succeeded, 
in  1857,  to  the  Democrat  Pierce,  acknowledged. 

18.  Presidential  "patronage,"  that  is,  the  power  of 
appointing  to  public  offices,  having  become  the  life- 
blood  of  the  organized  parties,  their  main  efforts  were 
brought  to  bear  on  the  national  conventions  in 
which  the  choice  of  the  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
was  decided.  Managed  by  astute  wire-pullers,  the 
national  conventions  furnished  a  long  record  of  tricks, 
of  stratagems,  of  unscrupulous  manoeuvres,  some- 
times even  of  scandalous  acts.  The  Whig  convention 
at  Harrisburg  gave  a  foretaste  of  this  in  1839 ;  the 
Democratic  convention  of  1844  continued  it.  The 
Democrats,  put  to  rout  by  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler 
too,"  had  quickly  recovered  their  ground  in  the  Con- 
gressional elections,  and  appeared  to  have  all  the  more 
serious  chances  of  success  in  the  presidential  election 
that  the  country  had  derived  little  benefit  from  the  Whig 
^^L  administration.  I  The  general  feeling  in  the  Democratic 
'Wy  party  assigned  tne  Presidency  to  Van  Buren.  But  in 
the  meanwhile  an  event  occurred  which  inspired  the 
wire-pullers  of  the  party  with  apprehensions  about  him. 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      39 

The  question  of  slavery,  which  had  for  some  time  past 
been  slowly  agitating  the  country,  became  suddenly 
a  burning  one,  in  consequence  of  the  plan  formed 
by  the  slaveholders  for  extending  the  area  of  slavery 
by  the  annexation  of  the  old  Mexican  province  of  Texas. 
Van  Buren  pronounced,  more  or  less  clearly,  against 
annexation.  As  the  slaveholders  of  the  South  supplied 
the  Democratic  party  with  a  considerable  portion  of  its 
contingents,  the  Democratic  managers  considered  that 
Van  Buren  had  seriously  impaired  his  chances  of  suc- 
cess in  the  South,  and  to  avoid  being  wrecked  with  him 
they  decided  to  throw  their  great  leader  overboard. 

They  accomplished  their  purpose  at  the  national 
convention  by  means  of  a  device  of  procedure, 
just  as  the  Whigs  got  rid  of  Clay.  The  convention  y, 
adopted  the  decision  that  the  candidates  for  the  Presi-/ 
dency  and  the  Vice-Presidency  must  obtain  a  majority 
of  two-thirds  of  the  votes  to  be  validly  nominated.  At 
the  first  ballot  151  votes  out  of  266  were  cast  for  Van 
Buren,  but  this  absolute  majority  was  no  longer  sufficient. 
At  the  second  ballot  he  received  still  fewer  votes,  at  each 
fresh  ballot  he  lost  some ;  after  the  seventh  ballot  Van 
Buren's  friends  withdrew  his  candidature.  The  minor- 
ity then  stepped  in  with  a  comparatively  obscure 
candidate,  James  K.  Polk.  He  obtained  only  44  votes ; 
but  his  very  mediocrity  appeared  to  a  good  many  dele- 
gates as  a  sort  of  guarantee  of  success ;  being  little  known 
in  the  country,  he  gave  umbrage  to  no  one,  and  he  might, 
after  all,  they  thought,  ultimately  secure  a  majority. 
The  next  ballot  at  once  disclosed  numerous  adhesions 
to  Polk,  and  then  a  wild  stampede  set  in;  delegations 
which  had  just  cast  their  vote  for  other  candidates 


40  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

recanted  in  headlong  haste  and  went  over  to  Polk,  and 
when  the  balloting  closed,  it  turned  out  that  Polk  had 
been  nominated  unanimously. 

It  was  of  no  service  to  Clay  and  Van  Buren  to  be 
the  great  leaders  of  their  parties.  Henceforth  the 
best  candidate  for  the  Presidency  was  not  the  one  with 
the  most  sterling  qualities,  but  the  one  who  was 
likely  to  win,  and  to  get  the  loaves  and  fishes  for  his 
followers.     In  this  policy  of  results  the  sole  criterion  was 

J   that  of   suitableness,  of   "availability."     "He  is  not  v| 
available,"  was  henceforth  a  candidate's  death-sentence.|ll' 
19.   The  opportunism  of  the  politicians  of  the  con-' 
ism  o  t  e      ventions,  which  tended  to  keep  the  best  men  out  of 

great  '  ^ 

leaders  power,   was    reinforced  by  the    opportunism  of    the 

themselves,  eminent  leaders  themselves,  which  dealt  the  political 
leadership  its  death-blow.  Here  again  it  was  the  presi- 
dential campaign  of  1844  which  gave  a  melancholy  ex- 
hibition of  it,  especially  in  the  Whig  camp.  The 
Whigs,  repenting  in  a  way  the  affront  offered  to  their 
glorious  leader,  Henry  Clay,  at  the  preceding  election, 
nominated  him  on  this  occasion  for  the  Presidency  by 
acclamation.  In  the  course  of  the  election  campaign 
he  had  to  state  his  views  on  the  burning  question  of 
Texas,  and  at  first  he  declared  himself  opposed  to  the 
annexation  of  Texas ;  but  before  long  he  whittled  down 
his  declaration  more  and  more,  in  order  not  to  estrange 
supporters  in  the  South.  This  rather  too  clever  atti- 
tude cost  Clay  the  votes  of  a  good  many  Whigs  strongly 
opposed  to  slavery,  and  their  desertion  caused  his  defeat. 
The  disappointment  was  keenly  felt  throughout  the 
Union  by  his  numerous  admirers ;  men  and  women  shed 
tears;    many  despaired  of  the  future  of  the  Republic 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      4 1 

and  of  democratic  government  on  seeing  a  Polk  preferred 
to  Henry  Clay,  the  great  Clay. 

Yet  so  far  as  his  defeat  and  not  Polk's  success  was 
concerned,  it  was  due  not  so  much  to  the  failings  of 
popular  government  as  to  those  of  leaders  who,  amid 
their  faint-hearted  calculations  of  votes  to  be  won  or 
lost,  could  not  or  would  not  have  the  courage  of  their 
opinions,  who  kept  back  the  plain  unvarnished  truth 
from  the  people.  No  doubt  the  confused  mass  of 
voters  under  a  popular  form  of  government,  and  the 
constant  uncertainty  as  to  what  they  think  and  what 
they  want,  demoralize  public  men  anxious  to  win  the 
largest  possible  following.  But  still  more  do  these 
men  who  shirk  responsibility  in  their  anxiety  to  thrust 
themselves  on  the  multitude,  who,  instead  of  walking 
straight  before  it,  twist  and  turn  from  side  to  side,  still 
more  do  these  would-be  leaders  bewilder  the  electorate. 

The  eminent  statesmen  who  were  not  eliminated  by 
the  conventions  retired  from  the  field  of  their  own  ac- 
cord. This  course  was  taken  by  Calhoun,  the  great 
rival  of  the  Van  Burens  and  the  Clays.  On  the  eve  of 
the  election  of  1844  his  candidature  for  the  Presidency 
was  mooted  for  a  moment.  But  he  would  not  allow 
it  to  be  brought  before  the  national  convention,  and  in 
a  published  letter  he  gave  his  reasons,  arraigning  the 
whole  system  of  the  conventions.  "  We,  General  Jack- 
son and  most  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  at  that  time," 
said  Calhoun,  "  we  contributed  to  put  down  the  Congres- 
sional Caucus.  Far,  however,  was  it  from  my  inten- 
tion in  aiding  to  put  that  down,  to  substitute  in  its  place 
what  I  regard  as  a  hundred  times  more  objectionable 
in  every  point  of  view." 


42 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Party 
organiza- 
tion 

strength- 
ened 


When  the  nomination  of  Polk  at  the  convention  be- 
came known,  there  was  a  general  cry  of  astonishment 
throughout  the  land:  "Who  is  Polk?"  But  the 
country  was  destined  to  receive  at  the  hand  of  the  con- 
ventions even  more  inadequate  candidates  for  the  suc- 
cession to  the  Washingtons,  the  Jeffersons,  and  the  Jack- 

y'sons.  Polk  was  only  the  first  of  a  long  line  of  "dark 
/^horses"  who  at  the  last  moment  won  the  Party  race. 
As  a  prominent  champion  could  not  be  agreed  on  at 
the  convention,  after  a  series  of  intrigues  a  dark  horse 
was  put  forward.  Following  on  a  number  of  fruitless 
ballots  for  leading  candidates  the  dark  horse  appeared 
all  at  once  on  the  course,  labouring  along  with  a  few 
votes  behind  the  cracks ;  but  gradually  he  outstripped 
them,  and  before  long  was  seen  to  be  leading. 

The  people  were  helpless.  Imprisoned  in  the  con- 
vention system  and  the  dogma  of  "regularity,"  they 
could  not  but  ratify  the  selections  made  for  them,  and 
Senator    Benton,    the    late    lieutenant    of    Jackson, 

;y '  was  not  far  from  the  truth  when  he  said,  "The  people 
have  no  more  control  over  the  selection  of  the  man  who 
is  to  be  the  President  than  the  subjects  of  kings  have 
over  the  birth  of  the  child  who  is  to  be  their  ruler." 

20.  The  knot  fastened  round  the  body  of  American 
democracy  by  this  system  was  continually  being  drawn 
tighter.  Party  loyalty  embodied  in  the  Organiza- 
tion was  becoming  more  enthusiastic  and  more  intoler- 
ant. The  party  became  a  sort  of  church,  which  ad- 
mitted no  dissent.  The  contingents  arrayed  under  the 
formal  conception  of  the  party  kept  growing  larger  and 
larger.  In  the  first  place  the  tribe  of  office-seekers 
multiplied.     The  deeper  the  spoils  and  rotation  system 


THE  EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      43 

took  root,  the  greater  became  the  number  of  people 
who  competed.  At  the  same  time  new  and  abundant  by  foreign 
material  was  added  by  the  continuous  European  element; 
immigration,  which  assumed  enormous  dimensions 
after  183 1,  each  succeeding  year  flinging  larger  and 
larger  masses  of  humanity  on  American  soil,  mostly 
from  Ireland  and  from  Germany.  Owing  to  the  facili- 
ties offered  by  the  American  naturalization  laws,  the 
immigrants  began  to  enjoy  the  rights  of  citizenship  after 
a  short  period  of  residence.  Ignorant,  with  no  political 
education,  these  new  members  of  the  commonwealth 
took  service  at  once  in  the  party  organization  and  blindly 
followed  the  word  of  command.  Small  elective  offices 
or  distributions  of  money  and  spirituous  liquors  kept 
them,  especially  the  Irish,  loyal  to  the  party. 

Finally,  besides  the  growing  horde  of  the  professional  by  slavery 
politicians  and  the  ductile  mass  of  immigrants,  the  party  <l"estion. 
Organization  met  with  a  great  accession  of  strength, 
after  1840,  owing  to  the  slavery  question,  from  the  upper 
strata  of  society,  of  American  stock,  possessing  a  com- 
petency and  culture.  This  problem,  which  had  long 
been  flickering  in  a  sort  of  demi-obscurity,  rose  on  the 
political  horizon  of  the  Union  during  the  decade  1840- 
1850  in  all  its  grandeur,  and  threw  a  crude  and  trying 
light  on  the  society  of  the  North.  With  the  exception 
of  a  select  resolute  group  impelled  by  their  strong  feel- 
ings and  generous  sympathies,  the  Abolitionists,  nobody 
cared  to  face  the  problem ;  it  disturbed  the  habits  of  a 
community  engrossed  in  its  affairs,  it  shocked  its  notions 
of  propriety,  it  injured  its  interests,  for  it  demanded 
from  it  self-examination  and  perhaps  action.  The 
best  way  of  escaping  from  the  horrid  apparition  was  to 


44  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

shut  one's  eyes.  But  in  that  case  some  fixed  support 
was  required  for  moving  across  the  open  surface  of 
political  life,  a  sort  of  railing  which  could  be  followed 
automatically.  The  party  Organization  supplied  this 
railing;  you  walked  with  your  party  straight  before 
you,  without  heeding  anything  else,  without  even  allow- 
'  ing  your  attention  to  be  distracted  by  the  scandals  of  the 
spoils  system  and  by  the  prostitution  of  politics  to  the 
vulgar  ambitions  and  appetites  identified  with  the  party 
Organization. 
But  the  21.    But  the  traditional  parties  were  the  less  able 

parties  ^^  maintain  the  status  quo  that  they  no  longer  had  any 

real  basis  themselves;    all  that  was  left  them  was  the 
name  and  style  under  which  they  traded.     The  differ- 
ences of  opinion  on  financial  and  economic  questions 
^  which  consolidated  the  Jacksonians  and  their  opponents 

;  '  into  two  rival  parties  of  Democrats  and  Whigs,  had  long 

since  been  settled.  The  only  real  question  which  was 
agitating  the  country,  the  slavery  problem,  gave  rise  to 
divergencies  which  no  more  coincided  with  the  division 
into  Whigs  and  Democrats  than  did  the  worn-out  prob- 
lems of  their  old  creed.  Inside  each  of  these  parties 
there  were  opponents  as  well  as  upholders  of  slavery; 
the  southerners,  whether  they  belonged  to  the  Whig 
or  to  the  Democratic  party,  were  generally  favourable 
to  this  "domestic  institution"  of  their  section  of  the 
country,  whereas  the  Democrats  and  the  Whigs  of  the 
North,  and  especially  the  Democrats,  were  divided  on 
the  question,  the  majority,  however,  being  opposed  to 
the  extension  of  slavery.  The  realignment  of  the  parties 
on  a  genuine  basis  could  not  have  been  accomplished 
.    without  the  break-up  of  the  old  organizations.     But 


THE   EVOLUTION  OF  THE   CONVENTION  SYSTEM      45 

the  latter  clung  desperately  to  life  and  refused  to  stand 
aside.  Fearing  the  effects,  they  could  devise  no  better 
remedy  than  to  make  away  with  the  cause,  or  at  all  events 
to  ignore  it.  They  organized  a  conspiracy  of  ambiguity 
and  silence  around  the  great  national  problem  which 
cried  for  solution,  and  for  a  long  series  of  years  the  used- 
up  parties  tried  to  hold  their  ground  against  the  logic 
of  events,  by  means  of  endless  stratagems,  falsehoods, 
and  recantations.  The  Whig  Organization  was  spe- 
cially conspicuous  for  this  attitude.  By  subordinating 
everything  to  the  supreme  preoccupation  of  keeping  up 
its  fabric,  of  remaining  a  national  organization,  it  em- 
braced the  policy  of  the  bat  which  showed  the  birds  its 
wings  and  hobnobbed  with  the  rats.  These  tactics  ap- 
peared to  succeed  very  well,  even  securing  for  it  the 
Presidency  of  the  Union  at  the  election  of  1848. 

But  hardly  had  the  victors  taken  their  seats  at  the  Split  on' 
banquet  when  the  spectre  of  slavery  appeared,  in  a  ^^^J^^y 
menacing,  terrifying  attitude.  The  slaveholders  were 
becoming  more  and  more  aggressive  in  their  wish  to 
extend  the  territorial  area  of  slavery ;  they  even  talked 
of  breaking  up  the  Union.  At  the  same  time  in  the 
Northern  States  the  revolt  of  men's  consciences  against 
slavery  and  the  pretensions  of  its  supporters  was  growing 
more  formidable  and  causing  a  deeper  and  deeper  split 
in  the  Whig  ranks.  To  avert  the  split  the  Organization 
hit  on  the  ingenious  plan  of  "agreeing  to  disagree," 
and  of  continuing  to  fly  the  Whig  colours.  But  the 
irremediable  division  between  the  southern  Whigs  and 
the  anti-slavery  Whigs  was  breaking  out  on  every 
occasion.  The  national  convention  of  1852  tried  to 
bring  about  an  apparent  agreement  between  them  by  a 


i 


46  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

supreme '  quibble,  selecting  a  colourless  candidate,  a 
"military  hero,"  to  please  the  North,  and  adopting  a 
programme  to  suit  the  South,  almost  the  same  as  that 
which  the  Democratic  convention  had  approved  a  fort- 
night previously.  This  was  the  last  straw ;  the  southern 
Whigs  thought  it  safer  to  vote  for  the  Democratic  candi- 
date who  was  of  the  same  timber  as  the  platform;  the 
opponents  of  the  extension  of  slavery  mustered  behind 
an  independent  candidate,  and  there  remained  only  a 
Whig  minority  which  consented  to  "support  the  candi- 
date while  spitting  upon  the  platform  on  which  he  stood." 
This  candidate  was  beaten,  and  the  "Whig  party" 
was  left  on  the  field.  The  Organization  did  not  despair 
of  bringing  it  to  life  again.  A  more  frightful  decom- 
position only  set  in. 
Special  22.   A  number  of  Whigs  who  had  a  sincere  hatred  of 

anti-slavery  slavery,  who  preferred  human  liberty  to  the  integrity 
of  the  party,  had  not  waited  for  this  crisis  to  leave  the 
Whig  Organization  and  'take  their  stand  on  a  plain, 
straightforward  anti-slavery  platform.  But  for  many  a 
long  year  they  had  to  fight  not  only  to  defend  and  to 
propagate  their  opinions,  but  even  for  their  right  to 
organize  themselves  on  this  particular  footing.  The 
conception  of  parties  as  kinds  of  churches  taking  charge 
of  all  the  manifold  moral  interests  of  the  faithful,  of  their 
whole  soul  considered  for  this  purpose  as  one  and  in- 
divisible, had  sunk  so  deep  into  the  public  mind  that 
the  mere  fact  of  forming  a  party  to  champion  a  particular 
cause,  and  nothing  but  that  cause,  seemed  in  itself 
wicked,  immoral  in  the  highest  degree;  people  do  not 
join  a  church  to  affirm  their  belief  in  a  single  dogma. 
The  first  anti-slavery  organization,  which  was  formed 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE    CONVENTION   SYSTEM      47 

under  the  name  of  the  "Liberty  party/'  therefore  felt 
bound  to  place  on  record  a  formal  abjuration  of  this 
heresy,  in  its  platform  of  1843,  without  success,  however. 
When  the  movement  launched  by  the  Liberty  party 
took  a  fresh  start,  just  before  the  presidential  election 
of  1848,  in  the  form  of  the  "Free  Soil  party,"  its  ad- 
herents, who  came  mostly  from  the  Whig  side,  were 
branded  as  "renegades  and  apostates,"  while  even 
sincere  opponents  of  the  extension  of  slavery,  such  as 
Benton,  thought  the  notion  of  a  party  of  this  kind, 
"founded  on  a  single  idea,"  simply  absurd. 

Eventually  the  disgust  inspired  by  the    behaviour  Birth  of 
of  the  Whig  party  drove  most  of  its  supporters  out  of  it.   Jf^^  Repub- 
A  few  Whig  fragments  were  still  left  here  and  there, 
which  refused  to  dissolve,  like  reptiles  which  have  been 
crushed  and  whose  severed  joints  still  give  signs  of  life. 
But  soon  they  mingled  with  the  dust,  the  road  was  clear, 
and  all  the  opponents  of  the  extension  of  slavery,  the 
•number    of   whom    increased    with    marked    rapidity 
towards  1854,  under  the  provocations  of  the  slaveholders, 
were  able  to  meet  freely,  however  different  their  origin 
and  however  divergent  their  opinions  on  other  subjects.        x 
This  body  soon  received  the  name  of  the  "  Republican"  \ 

party.  Born  in  the  States  of  the  West,  where  party 
organization  was  less  developed  than  in  the  East,  and 
where  consequently  more  facilities  existed  for  sponta- 
neous popular  movements,  it  spread,  about  the  year  1856, 
over  the  whole  North.  As  soon  as  there  arose,  on  the 
one  side,  a  living  organization,  sincere  and  straightfor- 
ward, the  forces  massed  on  the  other  side  were  bound 
to  take  as  well  a  decided  line. 

23.   The  Democratic  Organization,  likewise  divided 


48  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

Break-up  against  itself  on  the  question  of  slavery,  was  in  its  turn 
^  ^^^  .  instrumental  in  preventing  a  realignment  of  parties.  In 
Organiza-  the  contingents  of  the  Democratic  party  formed  under 
tion.  Jackson  the  slavocrats  of  the  South  were  in  a  minority ; 

the  majority,  contributed  mainly  by  the  North  and  the 
North- West,  was  not  favourable  to  the  extension  of 
slavery,  but  from  1844  onwards  the  minority  took  the 
helm  in  consequence  of  the  change  of  front  of  the  Demo- 
cratic national  convention,  which  threw  over  Van 
Buren  and  adopted  a  candidate  favourable  to  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas,  to  avoid  risking  the  fruits  of  the  victory, 
the  "spoils."  After  having  delivered  the  party  to  the 
slaveholding  minority,  the  Organization  maintained 
the  uneven  alliance  between  the  two  sections  by 
means  of  expedients  and  manoeuvres.  The  Dem- 
ocratic national  conventions  played  in  this  con- 
juncture a  game  much  resembling  that  of  the  Whig 
conventions. 

That  could  not,  however,  last  long.  The  slavehold- 
ers, more  and  more  overs  way  ed  by  the  development  of 
free  labour  in  the  Territories  and  unnerved  by  the  in- 
creasing opposition  of  opinion  in  the  free  States,  felt 
the  ground  slipping  from  beneath  their  feet  and  re- 
solved to  play  their  last  card.  Being  accustomed  to 
drag  the  northern  politicians  at  their  heels  by  the  mere 
threat  of  seceding  from  the  party  and  the  Union,  they 
demanded  from  the  Federal  authority  a  formal  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  right  to  own  slaves  in  all  the  Territories 
just  like  any  other  property.  The  northern  politicians 
could  not  comply  with  this  new  demand  without  losing 
most  of  their  supporters  in  the  North,  and  the  split 
occurred.     It  came  to  a  head  at  the  national  convention 


THE   EVOLUTION  OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      49 

of  the  party,  which  met  in  i860,  at  Charleston.  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  delegates  from  the  North  brought 
forward  a  wire-drawn  programme  of  the  kind  which 
national  conventions  knew  so  well  how  to  concoct. 
The  southern  delegates  withdrew,  met  in  a  separate 
convention,  and  adopted  an  out-and-out  slavery  pro- 
gramme. The  semblance  of  union  in  the  party  dis- 
appeared; the  long  struggle  between  the  ambiguous 
situation  kept  up  by  the  Organization  and  the 
naked  truth  of  the  slaveholders'  aspirations  was  at 
an  end. 

The  break-up  of  the  old  organizations  now  being  ac-  The  South 
complished,  the  principle  of  liberty  on  the  one  side  and  ^^^^^  to 
that  of  slavocracy  on  the  other  could  stand  up,  meet  face 
to  face,  and  fight  it  out.  But  the  conflict  could  no 
longer  be  settled  in  a  peaceful  way ;  it  was  too  late  for 
that;  the  South  had  gone  too  far  in  its  pretensions  to 
allow  itself  to  be  non-suited  by  a  simple  electoral  ver- 
dict. Finding  itself  more  and  more  driven  into  a  comer 
by  the  world  of  freedom  rising  out  of  the  "  great  desert 
of  the  West,"  and  feeling  their  "domestic  institution" 
in  danger  in  spite  of  the  verbal  arrangements  devised 
by  the  party  organization,  the  South  was  obliged  to  be 
always  seeking  new  fulcrums,  to  be  continually  raising 
its  terms.  And  slavocracy  daily  became  the  more  ag- 
gressive ahd  intractable,  because  the  resistance  to  it  was 
a  succession  of  concessions.  It  was  confronted  solely 
by  parties  ready  to  do  anything  to  prolong  their  exist- 
ence and  follow  the  lead  of  organizations  which,  with 
love  of  the  Union  always  on  their  lips,  were  only  venal 
go-betweens.  When  the  election  of  Lincoln  to  the  1 
Presidency  announced  the  victory  of  the  party  of  princi-  ' 


50  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE  PARTY   SYSTEM 

pies,  slavocracy  thought  the  death-knell  of  its  sway  in 
the  Union  had  sounded,  and  it  denounced  the  Federal 
compact ;  the  North  flew  to  arms  to  defend  the  integrity 
of  the  Union ;  and  the  slavery  conflict  was  left  to  the 
arbitrament  of  blood  and  iron. 


FOURTH   CHAPTER 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CONVENTION  SYSTEM 

(continued) 

24.   In  the  crisis  brought  on  by  the  slavery  question  Th© 
the  old  parties  foundered,  but  the  system  of  organiza-  ^^^aniza- 
tion  by  which  they  made  head  against  wind  and  tide  thTcivii"^ 
survived  them.     The  "  Republicans,"  who  represented  War. 
the  fresh  current  in  the  life  of  the  parties,  adopted  the 
machinery  of  the  organization  in  vogue.     It  was  in  such 
common  use  that  it  commanded  acceptance  almost  like 
a  natural  phenomenon,  and  indeed  a  party  whose  origins 
were  so  laborious,  and  which  had   to  contend   against 
such  powerful  opponents,  could  not  but  gain  by  adopt- 
ing an  organization,  ready  to  hand,  of  the  type  sanc- 
tioned by  popular  habits.     But   in   proportion  as  the 
power  of  the  new  party  increased,  it  attracted  to  itself 
the  professionals  and  the  political  parasites  who  try  to 
feed  on  the  vital  substance  of  parties;   the  machinery 
of  conventions,  which  they  had  learnt  to  manipulate 
with  such  skill,  gave  them  every  facility  for  getting  in. 
The   moral  principles  which  lay  at  the  root  of  the 
"Republican"  party,  and  the  lofty  enthusiasm  which 
inspired  its  adherents,  precluded  the  self-seeking  politi- 
cians from  becoming  the  masters  of  it,  but  they  none  the 
less  formed  a  considerable  element  in  the  party.      In  ! 
the  nomination  of  Lincoln,  wire-pulling  was  at  least  as  I 

51 


52 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Conditions 
in  the 
South 
before  the 
war. 


great  a  factor  as  spontaneousness  and  devotion  to  princi- 
ples. Indeed,  this  selection  was  determined  by  considera- 
tions of  "  availability,"  in  accordance  with  the  tradition 
of  national  conventions ;  but  for  once  in  a  way  the  wire- 
pullers of  the  convention  were  mistaken;  Lincoln 
turned  out  to  be  a  man  of  courage,  of  force  of  will,  and 
of  moral  grandeur  such  as  is  seldom  met  with  in  history. 

However,  if  these  eminent  qualities  helped  him  to 
overcome  the  formidable  rebellion  of  the  South,  he 
could  make  but  little  use  of  them  against  the  political 
traditions  bequeathed  by  the  old  party  organizations,  — 
against  rotation  and  the  spoils  system.  The  secession 
flung  most  of  the  Democrats  on  the  side  of  the  enemies 
of  the  Union ;  the  Republican  party  remained  its  chief, 
if  not  sole,  prop,  and  the  very  safety  of  the  Union  seemed 
to  demand  that  the  Republican  party  should  be  sup- 
ported at  all  hazards,  and  that  public  posts  should  be 
entrusted  exclusively  to  its  adherents.  So  the  horde  of 
office-seekers,  whose  principal  claim  was  their  "Re- 
publicanism," soon  won  the  day.  To  make  room  for 
them  one  of  the  most  appalling  hecatombs  of  officials 
known  in  the  history  of  the  American  public  service  was 
carried  out. 

25.  After  the  war  the  Republican  organization  in- 
vaded the  South.  This  section  had  hitherto  almost 
escaped  from  the  system  introduced  by  the  Jacksonian 
democracy  after  the  eclipse  of  the  leadership  embodied 
in  the  Legislative  Caucus.  The  social  and  economic 
conditions  which  favoured  the  establishment  and  the 
development  of  the  popular  party  organization  in  the 
North  and  in  the  West  did  not  exist  in  che  South.  The 
South  and  the  rest  of  the  Union  formed  practically  two 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      53 

nations,  two  different  races,  each  ^ith  a  distinct  civili- 
zation. With  the  steam  era  in  full  swing,  the  slave- 
holding  South  remained  an  essentially  agricultural 
country,  of  scattered  populations,  and  relatively  few 
and  unimportant  urban  agglomerations.  Slave  labour 
excluded  all  free  effort,  and  kept  the  South  apart  from 
the  economic  movement  which  carried  away  the  North 
and  the  West  in  a  sort  of  whirlwind.  It  prevented  the 
rise  of  a  powerful  middle  class,  composed  of  small 
farmers,  like  those  who  constituted  the  moral  force  of 
New  England,  of  captains  of  industry,  of  manufacturers, 
of  leading  merchants,  of  superior  artisans,  who  drew 
from  their  material  independence  and  from  the  success 
achieved  by  their  dogged  and  untrammelled  will  the 
consciousness  of  their  dignity  as  men  and  citizens.  Im- 
mediately beneath  a  somewhat  limfted  number  of 
planters,  in  addition  to  the  coloured  slaves,  came  a 
wretched  mass  of  men  of  white  race,  "mean  whites," 
sunk  in  ignorance  and  poverty,  physically  free,  but  kept 
by  their  wretchedness  in  a  close  economical  and  political 
dependence  on  the  planters.  The  latter,  as  the  sole 
possessors  of  wealth,  formed  a  ruling  class  in  the  State 
which  was  the  flat  negation  of  democracy ;  the  republi- 
can form  required  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Union 
covered  in  the  South  an  oligarchical  power  wielded  by  a 
few  thousand  rich  planters.  Drawing  into  their  orbit 
the  less  wealthy  planters  and  the  men  of  liberal  profes- 
sions in  the  cities,  this  class  wielded  an  absolute  social 
and  political  leadership.  The  whole  southern  society 
was  a  sort  of  vast  family  or  clan,  in  which  the  younger 
members  followed  their  elders  spontaneously  and 
naturally. 


# 


54 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Convention' 

system  of 

small 

importance. 


This  state  of  things  was  anything  but  favourable  to 
the  birth  and  development  of  the  two  primordial  ele- 
ments of  political  life  in  the  Northern  States,  that  is  to 
say,  of  the  democratic  formalism  which  took  possession 
of  the  public  mind,  and  of  the  race  of  mercenary  politi- 
cians who,  under  cover  of  this  formalism,  laid  hands  on 
the  political  machinery.  The  great  mass  of  voters  had 
no  need  of  the  abstract  notion  of  "regularity"  and  of 
cut-and-dried  resolutions  of  the  would-be  representative 
conventions  for  shaping  their  policy ;  they  followed  im- 
plicitly the  men  to  whom  they  were  bound  as  if  by 
feudal  ties ;  every  great  family  had  its  political  following, 
with  a  crowd  of  dependents,  great  and  small,  who  rushed 
up  at  the  first  summons.  Again,  even  apart  from  the 
restrictions  on  the  suffrage  which  prevailed  in  the  old 
States  of  the  South,  politics  and  the  principal  public 
functions  were  practically  a  monopoly  of  the  ruling 
class.  Politics  were  for  this  class  not  so  much  a  career 
as  a  vocation;  young  members  of  good  families  were 
initiated  into  it  at  an  early  age,  and  tempered  their 
southern  ardour  in  the  controversies  of  the  day  on  con- 
stitutional law  in  which  the  women  themselves  took 
an  interest.  It  was  almost  always  from  this  class,  and 
from  among  the  men  who  gravitated  towards  it,  that 
the  members  of  the  legislative  assemblies,  and  of  Con- 
gress in  particular,  were  recruited.  The  other  elective 
functions  were  few  in  number ;  most  of  the  offices  were 
filled  up  by  the  executive  or  by  the  Legislature. 

The  need,  therefore,  of  a  party  election  machinery 
did  not  make  itself  felt  here  to  the  same  extent  as  in  the 
North  and  in  the  West,  and  the  convention  system  did 
not  acquire  the  same  importance  in  the  South.      Very 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      55 

often  the  candidates  came  forward  of  their  own  accord, 
without  having  received  the  investiture  of  any  conven- 
tion, a  thing  which  had  become  well-nigh  a  physical 
impossibility  in  the  North.  Nor  was  there  the  same 
need,  in  the  South,  of  the  committees  which  canvassed 
the  voters  in  concert  with  the  candidates.  The  candi- 
dates as  a  rule  did  not  meddle  with  electioneering; 
their  special  field  of  activity  was  the  stump,  and  in  de- 
bates with  the  rival  candidates  they  treated  the  public 
and  themselves  to  tournaments  of  eloquence  which 
flattered  their  chivalrous  tastes.  The  victor  in  the 
debate  was  afterwards  the  victor  at  the  polls.  While 
monopolizing  politics,  the  members  of  the  ruling  class 
did  not  use  public  office  as  a  source  of  personal  gain; 
they  looked  on  it  as  a  means  of  gratifying  their 
dignity,  their  pride. 

26.   All  this  was  changed  after  the  Civil  War,  when  .  Spoils 
the  victors  gave  the  suffrage  to  the  whole  ignorant  and  system 
degraded  mass  of  freed  negroes  and  cut  off  the  old  planted 
leadership  by  depriving  the  men  who  had  pronounced  into  the 
for  secession  of  political  rights.     The  old  political  so- 
ciety was  dissolved;   the  new  one  presented  only  inco- 
herent elements.     The  Republican  party  undertook  to 
bring  them  together,  as  much  with  a  view  to  consoli- 
date the  results  of  the  victory,  and  in  particular  the 
emancipation  of  the  negroes,  as  to  keep  itself  perma- 
nently in  power.     For  this  purpose  it  made  use  of  the 
party  organization  in  vogue  in  the  North.     The  negroes 
adapted  themselves  to  it  with  extraordinary  rapidity; 
without  understanding  anything  of  the  issues  of  politics, 
they  grasped  its  externals  admirably,  the  devices  and 
stratagems  of  organization,  the  dodges  and  tricks  of 


56  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

procedure  at  the  meetings,  —  and  in  a  short  time  they 
manoeuvred  in  the  conventions  and  the  committees  like 
veterans.  They  were  controlled  by  whites,  some  of 
whom  had  hurried  down  from  the  Northern  States,  and 
who  got  the  nickname  of  "carpet-baggers,"  since  be- 
come famous,  from  their  exasperated  opponents.  These 
adventurers  found  associates  on  the  spot  in  the  "  mean 
whites,"  released  from  their  old  Social  ties  by  the  fall  of 
the  slave  power  (the  "Scalawags,"  as  they  were  called 
in  the  South),  and  with  the  help  of  the  negroes  enrolled 
in  the  Republican  organization,  got  into  possession  of 
>^jthe  electoral  machine.  When  installed  in  power,  the 
'  negroes  and  their  white  mentors  indulged  in  an  un- 
precedented robbery  of  the  public  purse.  They  made, 
the  Legislatures  issue  bonds  on  the  State  to  provide  for 
public  works  which  were  never  taken  in  hand,  and 
shared  the  proceeds  among  themselves,  leaving  the 
taxpayers  to  submit  to  fresh  taxation;  they  openly 
passed  fraudulent  disbursements  or  swelled  the  expenses 
incurred  for  furnishing  offices,  etc.,  in  the  wildest 
fashion,  fitting  them  up,  for  instance,  with  clocks  at 
$480  apiece,  with  chandeliers  at  $650.  The  official 
posts  were  distributed  among  illiterates;  in  one  State 
there  were  more  than  two  hundred  negro  magistrates 
unable  to  read  or  write ;  justice  was  openly  bought  and 
sold. 

While  the  local  leaders  of  the  Organization,  most  of 
them  vulgar  spoilsmen,  were  absorbed  in  plunder,  the 
great  chiefs  pulled  the  strings  from  Washington,  settled 
the  candidatures  for  the  most  important  posts  in  the 
Southern  States,  and  made  the  leaders  of  these  States 
manoeuvre  to  suit  the  requirements  of  their  policy,  not 


A 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      57 

knowing  exactly,  or  not  wishing  to  know,  what  was  going 
on  under  the  rule  of  the  carpet-baggers.  The  Republi- 
can Organization  had  to  be  supported  in  the  South  at 
all  costs.  The  Federal  government  itself,  the  administra- 
tion of  President  Grant,  on  more  than  one  occasion 
placed  the  military  at  the  disposal  of  the  Organization 
in  its  election  struggles. 

27.  The  misdeeds  of  the  Republican  Organization '"Solid 
exploiting  the  negro  vote  soon  flung  almost  all  the  ^^*^- 
respectable  white  population  into  opposition;  the  hu- 
miliation of  being  governed  by  the  slaves  of  yesterday, 
and  of  being  ruthlessly  plundered  by  their  leaders,  the 
carpet-baggers  and  scalawags,  made  the  whites *forget 
all  their  political  differences,  and  they  united  under  the 
flag  of  the  Democratic  party,  without  giving  a  thought 
to  its  principles,  but  simply  because  it  was  the  opposite 
of  the  Republican  party,  of  the  party  of  the  blacks. 
They  voted  invariably  for  the  measures  and  the  candi- 
dates of  the  Democratic  party,  good  or  bad.  The 
whole  South  solidified  into  this  attitude,  which  got  it  the 
nickname  of  "Solid  South."  Political  formalism  in- 
vaded its  whole  existence.  The  comparative  freedom 
from  party  spirit  which  existed  before  the  war  in  local 
elections,  and  to  some  extent  even  in  others,  disappeared 
altogether.  Party  organization,  so  loose  in  the  South 
before  the  war,  was  made  supreme  there,  together  with 
its  system  of  "regular"  nominations. 

The  whites,  entrenched  behind  the  Organization  of 
the  Democratic  party,  had  soon  succeeded  per  fas 
et  nefas  in  dislodging  the  Republicans  in  the  South 
and  in  reducing  the  negroes  to  impotence.  The  Solid 
South  still  continued  to  exist;   the  politicians  watched 


58  DEMOCRACY  AND    THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

over  it,  in  order  not  to  lose  their  situation.  Having 
appeared  on  the  scene  in  the  form  of  carpet-baggers,  of 
scalawags,  and  of  subaltern  negro  politicians  all  hoist- 
ing the  Republican  standard,  they  installed  themselves 
soon  in  the  opposite  camp  as  well.  Though  the  old 
Democratic  leaders  of  the  South  have  recovered  their 
ascendency,  they  could  not  exert  their  political  influence 
in  the  old  way  after  the  suffrage  was  extended  and  the 
party  Organization  system  was  developed  throughout 
the  country.  They  needed  numerous  intermediaries 
between  themselves  and  the  mass  of  the  voters.  The 
vacant  place  was  at  once  taken  by  mercenaries  unfurling 
the  Democratic  flag. 

The  general  pacification  and  the  marvellous  economic 
transformation  undergone  by  the  South  after  the  war 
only  improved  the  chances  of  the  professional  politicians, 
by  concentrating  the  vital  forces  of  the  country  in  in- 
dustry and  commerce,  and  by  making  its  politico-social 
situation  like  that  of  the  North.  In  order  not  to  be 
disturbed  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  spoils,  the  politicians 
made  the  populations,  in  spite  of  the  profound  changes 
that  had  ensued,  keep  their  old  positions.  They  went 
on,  the' one  side  sounding  the  alarm  against  "negro 
domination,"  and  the  other  ''waving  the  bloody  shirt" 
of  the  war  waged  against  the  "rebels."  As  the  danger 
was  supposed  to  be  still  standing,  the  faithful  of  the 
parties  were  bound  to  go  on  voting  for  them  blindly, 
and  not  only  in  the  South,  but  everywhere  where  there 
were  "Republicans"  and  "Democrats."  The  whole 
Union  was  thus  identified  with  the  Solid  South,  for  the 
greater  benefit  of  the  party  organization.  Several  other 
eflfects  of  the  war,  which  went  far  beyond  the  new  state 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      59 

of  things  created  in  the  South,  added  a  new  impetus  to 
the  Organization. 

28.1  The  war  introduced  profound  changes  into  the  Economic 
whole  national  existence ;   it  imparted  a  new  character  ^^P^'^s^o"- 
to  its  political,  economical,  and  moral  relations.     The 
political  life  of  the  Union  was  marked  by  an  excessive 
development  of  centralization.     The  authority  of   the  i 
Union  over  the  States  increased  as  much  in  the  constitu- 
tional domain  as  in  the  everyday  political  life.     Eco- 
nomic life  exhibited  a  still  greater  concentration/    The 
extension  of  railroads  and  telegraphs  made  distances  of 
little  account,  and  did  away  with  the  comparative  iso- 
lation in  which  the  populations  of  the  States  had  hitherto 
lived.     The  great  industrial  undertakings  created  by: 
a  colossal  combination  of  small  capital  stretched  from 
one  end  of  the  Union  to  the  other.    Carried  along,  forces 
and  activities  underwent  an  unprecedented  expansion. 
Restored  to  peace,  the  country  plunged  with  ardour 
into  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  of  money-making.     Specula- 
tion invaded  everything.     Tastes  and  appetites  were 
freely  indulged  in.     Success,  or  the  craving  for  success, 
seemed  to  justify  anything. 

To  this  coarse  materialism  was  added  the  unbounded  Materialism 
enthusiasm  aroused  by  the  war.     Enormous  sacrifices  .  ^P'^^  , 

-'  ...  ^^  mflated 

had  been  made  to  save  the  Union;   millions  of  slaves  party 
had  been  given  their  liberty ;  people  prided  themselves  feeling. 
on  it;    they  got  drunk  with  patriotism  all  the  more     " 
readily  and  sincerely  because  it  concealed  better  the 
decline  of  the  national  character.     And  to  turn  this 
patriotism  to  account,  the  feelings  which  it  inspired  were 
invested,  so  to  speak,  in  the  party  of  the  Union,  —  the 
Republican  party,  —  like  capital  to  fructify ;    all  the 


6o  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

moral  enthusiasm  accumulated  in  the  struggle  was 
deposited  with  the  party,  and  party  feeling  increased 
in  volume.  Powerful  enough  before  the  war,  it  was 
already  almost  a  superstition;  now  it  became  a  passion. 
Engendered  by  conventionality  and  selfish  rivalries,  it 
cast  off  its  impurities  in  the  cru(!ible  of  civil  war  and 
appeared  in  a  sort  of  ideal  glow.  This  exaltation  of 
party  feeling  only  delivered  the  citizen  more  effectually, 
bound  hand  and  foot,  into  the  power  of  the  party  em- 
bodied in  its  Organization. 
Party  de-  While  the  moral  sources  of  its  influence  extended, 

genuine  ^^^  Organization  secured  important  improvements  in  its 
life.  The  machinery  in  the  direction  of  centralization,  which 
"Machine."  increased  its  material  hold  on  the  mass  of  voters. 
I  X  Favoured  by  the  exceptional  extension  of  rail- 
i  roads  and  the  telegraph,  the  enlarged  centralization 
knit  all  the  parts  of  the  Organization  more  strongly 
together  and  drew  closer  the  bonds  which  united  the 
party  followers.  But  with  that  the  Organization  re- 
mained more  than  ever  devoid  of  spontaneous  and 
genuine  life.  The  absolute  power  of  the  small  cliques 
of  managers,  who  settled  everything  behind  the  scenes, 
revived  and  applied  to  the  democratized  system  of  party 
organization  the  old  appellation  of  Caucus,  in  the  sense 
of  secret  meeting,  of  cabal.  The  professional  politi- 
cians operated,  under  the  direction  of  the  managers  and 
the  wire-pullers,  with  such  uniformity  and  with  such 
indifference  or  insensibility  to  right  and  wrong,  that  they 
evoked  the  idea  of  a  piece  of  mechanism  working  auto- 
matically and  blindly,  —  of  a  machine.  The  effect  ap- 
peared so  precisely  identical  that  the  term  "Machine" 
was  bestowed  on  the  Organization  as  a  nickname, 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      6 1 

which  it  bears  down  to  the  present  day,  even  in  prefer- 
ence to  that  of  "Caucus." 

29.  Drawing  in  its  tow  the  whole  electorate,  the  Or-  The  Execu- 
ganization  could  all  the  more  easily  thrust  itself  on  the  ^^^^  ^^  ^^._ 
public  authorities  created  by  election.  The  Executive,  zation. 
which  disposed  of  the  places  in  the  Federal  service  re- 
quired by  the  Organization  for  feeding  its  machine,  was 
of  particular  consequence  to  it.  Since  the  introduction 
of  the  spoils  system,  the  Organization  had  always  pressed 
heavily  on  the  exercise  of  the  presidential  patronage. 
It  was  the  Organization  of  the  party,  a  convention 
of  its  delegates,  which  had  nominated  the  President, 
having  taken  him,  perhaps,  out  of  obscurity;  the  » 
innumerable  committees  of  this  Organization  had 
worked  up  the  electorate  to  vote  for  him ;  in  short,  he 
was  its  creature.  Could  he  forget  this  in  power?  had 
he  not  contracted  obligations  to  its  leaders,  even  without 
having  entered  into  any  explicit  engagement  ?  Lincoln 
himself,  when  grappling  with  this  fatal  situation,  had  to 
give  in  on  more  than  one  occasion.  It  is  therefore  not 
surprising  that  the  successors  of  the  great  President 
should  not  have  exhibited  more  firmness.  The  anxiety 
about  re-election,  which  haunts  almost  every  President 
in  his  first  term,  could  not  but  increase  their  concilia- 
toriness  towards  the  local  leaders  of  the  Organization. 
But  personal  obligations  were  not  the  only  ones  which 
the  President  contracted  towards  them.  The  party 
system,  developed  and  intensified  by  the  Caucus,  made 
the  chief  of  the  State  a  party  chief,  or  a  trustee, 
who,  on  entering  the  White  House,  received  the  fortunes 
of  the  party  as  a  deposit.  As  the  party's  success  at  the 
elections  depended  on  the  efficiency  of  the  Organization, 


62  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE  PARTY   SYSTEM 

the  President  had  to  take  good  care  not  to  weaken  the 
latter,  not  to  damp  the  zeal  and  ardour  of  the  numerous 
workers  who  led  the  electoral  troops.  Consequently 
when,  after  the  batde,  a  local  leader  requested  the  Presi- 
dent to  give  his  lieutenants  places,  for  which  he  had 
already  pledged  himself  to  them,  the  President  had  no 
alternative  but  to  comply ;  if  he  refused,  he  ruined  the 
political  credit  of  the  local  leaders,  as  well  as  the  chances 
of  the  party  in  the  district. 

Lastly,  the  necessities  of  the  constitutional  situation 
obliged  the  President  to  seek  the  support  of  the  members 
of  Congress.  It  was  of  no  avail  that  the  Constitution 
established  the  separation  of  powers,  organized  the 
legislative,  the  executive,  and  the  judiciary,  —  as  co- 
ordinate powers  counterbalancing  each  other.  The 
more  the  Union  developed,  the  more  complex  its  political 
life  grew,  the  less  possible  did  it  become  for  the  Legisla- 
ture and  the  Executive  to  act  separately  or  at  a  distance 
from  each  other.  Whether  it  was  a  matter  of  legislation 
or  of  the  annual  appropriations  of  the  budget,  the  Execu- 
tive had  to  treat  with  the  Legislature.  Besides,  the 
Legislature  was  given  a  formal  hold  on  the  Executive  by 
the  Constitution  itself,  which  in  certain  specified  cases 
had  deviated  from  the  principle  of  the  separation  of 
powers  by  making  the  ratification  of  treaties  and  of 
appointments  to  the  more  important  offices  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  Senate.  Closely  pressed  on  various 
sides  by  the  Legislature,  the  Executive  was  obliged  to 
yield,  and,  in  order  to  live,  was  reduced  to  purchasing 
the  support  of  the  members  of  Congress  with  the 
favours  at  its  disposal.  Towards  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  this  practice  became  a  regular  one, 


I   UNIVERSITY 

V      ^^ 

THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      63 

and  Pierce  and  Buchanan  bought  legislation  like  an 
article  of  commerce  with  the  places  which  they  dis- 
tributed to  the  proteges  of  the  Senators  and  the  Rep- 
resentatives. 

At  the  Same  time  the  Legislature  became  the  strong-  United 
hold  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  Organization.     The  seats  ^    ^^ 
in  Congress  being  the  highest  electoral  prize  that  could  stronghold 
be  won,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Organization,  its  ^  ^^^ . 
local  managers  naturally  coveted  them  for  themselves,  tion. 
and  when  the  Machine  acquired  the  strength  which 
enabled  it  to  operate  with  certainty,  it  systematically 
placed  them  in  these  important  elective  positions.     They 
were,  therefore,  the  persons  to  reap  the  benefit  of  the 
superiority  gained  by  the  Legislature  over  the  Executive. 
Disguised  as  members  of  Congress,  the  managers  of  the  \ 
Organization  forced  the  Executive  to  make  over  the 
whole   Federal   patronage  to  them.     First   came   the  ' 
Senators,    to    whom    their    constitutional   power,    as 
well  as  the  special  prestige  attaching  to  their  character 
of  representatives  of  sovereign  States,  gave  more  influ- 
ence.    They  regularly  took  in  hand  the  distribution  of 
offices  in  their  States.     The  Senate,  which,  under  the  . 
terms  of  the  Constitution,  was  entrusted  with  the  duty 
of  confirming  by  a  majority  the  important  presidential    i 
appointments,  had  admitted,  by  the  unwritten  law  of  the   ' 
**  courtesy  of  the  Senate,"  the  exclusive  right  of  the  Sena- 
tors of  each  State  to  approve  or  reject  the  proposals  of  the 
President  relating  to  their  State;   consequently  all  the 
other  Senators  concurred  with  their  colleague  without 
looking  into  the  case.     Under  the  circumstances  it  was 
useless  for  the  President  to  ignore  the  recommenda- 
tions of  the  Senators.     In  practice  this  state  of  affairs 


64 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Conditions 
under 
Grant : 


under 
Hayes ; 


admitted  of  a  good  many  exceptions,  but,  generally 
speaking,  it  amounted  to  the  President  having  the 
signature  and  the  Senator  the  choice.  In  the  last 
analysis  the  government  established  by  the  Constitution 
found  itself  deprived  of  one  of  its  essential  functions,  for 
the  benefit  of  a  private  organization  which  confronted 
it  henceforvirard  as  a  sort  of  counter-government. 

30.  Such  was  the  situation  when  Grant  took  up  his 
abode  in  the  White  House.  His  immense  prestige,  and 
the  unbounded  confidence  of  the  Republican  masses 
who  had  carried  him  into  power,  could  do  nothing 
against  it.  After  a  few  half-hearted  attempts  at  re- 
sistance, he  became  its  accomplice.  The  Organization 
allowed  freer  scope  than  ever  to  the  mercenary  con- 
tingents which  filled  its  ranks,  and  started  on  a  new  era 
of  scandals  and  corruption  in  public  life,  which  recalled 
and  surpassed  the  worst  days  of  Jackson.  Nor  did 
public  opinion,  in  -the  main,  protest;  it  made  no  sign, 
hypnotized  by  the  imaginary  dangers  which  threatened 
the  Union  from  the  "rebel"  South.  ''Men  went  on 
fearing  the  dead  lions  of  secession  and  slavery  more  than 
the  living  dogs  of  political  corruption."  With  Grant 
in  power,  people  were  at  all  events  sure  that  the  order 
of  things  established  by  his  victories  would  not  be  im- 
pugned; and  then,  business  was  not  bad,  money  was 
easily  made. 

Grant's  successor,  Hayes,  who  got  in  at  the  national 
convention  as  a  dark  horse,  proved  himself  thoroughly 
honest.  Accepting  the  nomination,  he  declared  himself 
an  opponent  of  the  spoils  system:  "It  ought  to  be 
abolished.  The  reform  should  be  thorough,  radical, 
and  complete."     After  his   election  he  set   to  work 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      65 

resolutely  to  carry  out  his  promises.     But  thereupon 
most  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  which  brought  him  into 
power,  the  managers  of  the  Organization,  rose  up  against 
him.     At  the  instigation  of  the  head  of  the  Organization 
of  New  York  and  Senator  of  that  State,  Roscoe  Conkling,  , 
the  Senate,  making  use  of  its  right  to  reject  the  presi-  \ 
dential  appointments,  held  in  check  the  President  and  1 
paralyzed  his  efforts  for  the  liberation  of  the  public 
service  from  the  politicians.  Hayes  lost  heart  and  began 
to  give  way.      For  one  good  appointment  he  made  two 
bad  ones,  under  the  pressure  of  the  Machine.     The 
behaviour  of  the  Organization  became  more  decent,  but 
the  Machine  was  still  in  full  swing. 

Edified  by  Hayes'  experience,  his  successor,  Garfield,  under 
showed  no  intention  of  taking  the  bestowal  of  ofiices  ^^^^^^^* 
out  of  the  hands  of  members  of  Congress.  But  while 
lending  himself  to  the  spoils  system,^  he  provoked,  from 
his  very  accession,  the  violent  animosity  of  Roscoe  Conk- 
ling for  having  made  a  few  appointments  without  refer- 
ence to,  or  even  against  the  wish  of,  the  famous  New  York 
Senator,  who,  however,  was  not  forgotten.  A  grave 
conflict  broke  out  between  the  President  and  the  Senator, 
which  disclosed  the  lengths  to  which  the  insolent  pre- 
tensions of  the  powerful  leaders  of  the  Machine  could  go. 
In  the  meanwhile  the  appetites  aroused  by  the  spoils 
brought  about  a  far  more  serious  collision;  among 
the  horde  of  office-seekers  who  invaded  Washington, 
one,  being  disappointed  or  having  lost  patience,  as- 
sassinated the  President.  The  shock  given  to  opinion 
by  this  tragic  death  helped  to  make  Congress  pass  a  law 
which  withdrew  from  the  favouritism  of  the  adminis- 
tration, or,  what  came  to  the  same  thing,  from  the 


h 


66  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

exigencies  of  members  of  Congress,  a  certain  number  of 
offices  by  having  them  filled  by  competitive  examina- 
tions. This  reform,  carried  in  1883,  was  the  starting- 
I  point  of  an  important  movement  in  the  political  life 
of  the  United  States,  as  will  be  seen  in  a  subsequent 
chapter,  but  it  could  not  restore  the  free  use  of  the 
presidential  prerogative  in  regard  to  appointments  and 
cancel  the  encroachments  of  Congressmen.  Mean- 
while, it  is  enough  to  point  out  that  the  offices  for 
which  the  President  appoints  with  the  consent  of 
the  Senate  have  not  been  affected  by  the  new  law,  the 
intervention  of  the  Senate  in  these  cases  being  pre- 
scribed by  the  Constitution, 
under  3 1.   For  the  moment  the  actual  effect  produced  by 

Cleveland;  |-j^g  awakening  of  public  opinion  was  to  detach  enough 
supporters  from  the  Republican  Organization  to  put  an 
end  to  the  monopoly  of  power  which  it  had  enjoyed  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  bring  into  the  Presi- 
dency, under  the  Democratic  flag,  a  man  of  undaunted  / 
courage  and  incorruptible  honesty,  Grover  Cleveland.  ' 
But  the  career  of  this  President  even,  which  shed  such 
a  lustre  on  the  independent  exercise  of  the  executive 
power,  gave  the  best  possible  proof  of  how  difficult, 
not  to  say  impossible,  it  was  for  the  President,  in  the 
state  of  things  described  above,  to  curb  the  Organization 
X  I  of  the  party.  On  great  economic  problems,  such  as  the 
currency  and  customs-duties,  which  directly  affected 
the  material  well-being  of  the  masses  and  kept  their 
susceptibility  on  the  alert,  the  President  made  a  brave 
fight  with  the  factious  Senate,  especially  during  his 
second  term  (i  893-1 897).  When  it  was  a  ques- 
tion of  appointments  to  offices,  this  bellicose  ardour 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      67 

cooled   down,    and  was    tempered   by    mutual    con- 
cessions. 

The  Republican  President  who  filled  the  Democratic  under 
interregnum  between  Cleveland's  J&rst  and  second  Presi-  damson; 
dency,  Benjamin  Harrison,  reverted  to  the  worst  tradi- 
tions of  the  spoils  system..    In  the  space  of  one  year, 
thirty  thousand  employees  of  the  postal  department 
were  changed,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  were 
Democrats.     The  prostitution  of  public  offices  to  the 
party  and  its  myrmidons  reached  its  highest  pitch  by 
spreading  to  the  Cabinet  itself,  which  was  put  up  to 
auction,  as  it  were ;  the  proprietor  of  a  large  dry-goods  / 
store  in  Philadelphia  was  rewarded  with  a  post  in  the  I 
Cabinet  for  having  supplied  the  committee  that  con- 
ducted the  presidential  campaign  with  a  considerable 
sum  of  money,  a  great  part  of  which  was  notoriously 
employed  in  purchasing  votes.    A  precedent  was  created, 
and  similar  things  occurred  under  each  of  the  subse- 
quent administrations,  under  both  Cleveland  and  Mc- 
Kinley. 

The  general  attitude  of  Mckinley  towards  the  spoils  under 
system  was  anything  but  revolutionary.     Taught  by  ^^Kmley 
the  experience  of  his  predecessor,  Cleveland,  he  wished  Roosevelt, 
above  all  things  to  live  in  peace  with  the  Senate  and  his 
party,  and  from  the  very  beginning  he  resigned  his 
power  of  appointing  to  offices  in  favour  of  the  members 
of  Congress  as  meekly  and  as  completely  as  if  the  prac- 
tice were    formally   prescribed    by   the   Constitution. 
His  successor,  Roosevelt,  with  all  his  courage,  all  his 
energy,  and  hislmmense  popularity  in  the  country,  did 
not  succeed  better  than  Cleveland  in  restraining  the 
Senate  in  the  disposal  of  the  Federal  patronage.  Besides, 


assessments. 


68  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

he  did  not  want  at  all  to  quarrel  with  the  Organization 
of  the  party,  and  while  displaying  a  certain  independence 
he  strove  to  act  in  harmony  with  it  and  to  please  it. 
Political  32.   Retaining  in  fact  the  nominations    to    public 

offices,  the  party  Organization  made  of  the  officers 
its  humble  servants.  In  the  election  campaigns  they 
placed  all  their  influence  at  its  disposal  and  were 
the  hardest  ''workers."  Not  content  with  these  per- 
sonal exertions,  the  Organization  bethought  itself  early 
of  subjecting  the  officials  to  a  direct  and  proportional 
tax.  This  practice  crept  in  under  Democratic  admin- 
istrations, during  the  decade  1 840-1 850,  timidly  and 
slowly,  wrapped  in  secrecy.  In  the  course  of  the  next 
decade  it  increased  to  a  great  extent,  and  under 
Buchanan  it  was  already  thoroughly  established.  But 
it  was  left  to  the  Republican  Machine,  after  the  war, 
to  bring  the  contribution,  or  rather  extortion,  system 
to  perfection.  The  Machine  did  so  with  perfect 
calmness  and  unconcern.  The  Federal  office-holders 
throughout  the  Union  were  obliged  to  pay  a  percentage 
on  their  salaries  as  a  contribution  euphemistically  de- 
scribed as  ''voluntary."  Before  long  there  were  no 
fewer  than  five  categories  of  "assessments"  —  Federal, 
State,  municipal,  ward,  and  district  —  inflicted  on  the 
hapless  employees,  many  of  whom  were  often  taxed  by 
more  than  one  committee. 

The  ostensible  object  of  these  assessments  was  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  election  campaign,  such  as 
outlay  for  printing,  postage,  and  other  lawful  disburse- 
ments. Part  of  the  money  collected  was  really  used  for 
this  purpose,  but  most  of  it  went  to  corrupt  voters  and  to 
local  managers  of  the  Machine  and  their   "workers." 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      69 

The  reason  alleged  for  making  the  assessed  pay  up  was 
the  necessity  of  preventing  the  accession  to  power  of 
the  opposite  party,  which  would  turn  them  out  and  give 
their  places  to  its  adherents.  But  the  fear  of  being 
removed  by  their  own  party  or  of  spoiling  their  chances 
of  promotion,  if  they  refused  to  contribute,  acted  with 
more  force  on  the  office-holders.  Neither  pecuniary 
position,  age,  nor  sex,  found  mercy  with  the  collec- 
tors of  the  committees.  Every  one  who  figured  on  the 
pay-roll  of  a  public  department  was  put  under  contri- 
bution, —  office-boys,  dock-labourers,  washerwomen, 
not  to  mention  schoolmasters  and  schoolmistresses. 
As  a  rule  the  Organization  of  the  Republican  party 
in  power  could  count  on  the  indifference  or  even  the 
connivance  of  the  government.  Grant  and  his  suc- 
cessor, Hayes,  had,  it  is  true,  issued  orders  prohibiting 
the  payment  of  assessments,  but  they  remained  a  dead 
letter. 

Under  the  pressure  of  public  opinion,  which  as  time 
went  on  became  less  tolerant  of  these  abuses,  the  law  of 
1883,  already  referred  to,  providing  for  admission  to  the 
Federal  service  by  competitive  examination,  tried  to 
cure  the  evil  of  political  assessments  by  prohibiting 
them  under  penalties.  This  law  checked  the  evil,  but 
was  far  from  putting  an  end  to  it. 

The  assessments  levied  on  the  office-holders  found  a  virtual 
counterpart  in  the  contributions  demanded  from  can- 
didates for  election.  The  prejudice,  or  the  principle, 
if  that  expression  is  preferred,  of  *'  regularity"  having 
made  it  impossible  for  any  aspirant  to  an  elective  office 
to  come  before  the  voters  without  the  introduction  of 
a  party  Organization,  which  confers  the  stamp  of  regu- 


70  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

lax  candidate,  the  Machines  found  themselves  able  to 
apply  the  practice  of  assessments  to  candidates  with 
even  greater  success  and  certainty  than  to  office-holders. 
The  pretext  of  election  expenses  was  a  more  plausible 
one  in  the  case  of  candidates,  and  they  had  always 
contributed  more  or  less  to  the  party  funds ;  but  before 
the  war  these  contributions  were  fairly  moderate,  some- 
times even  extremely  small.  With  the  development  of 
the  Machine  the  pecuniary  contributions  of  the  candi- 
dates were  made  strictly  compulsory,  and  raised  to 
exorbitant  figures,  which  often  exceeded  the  total  of 
what  the  office  aspired  to  could  bring  in,  at  leasit  by 
fair  means. 

In  the  large  cities,  with  New  York  at  their  head, 
practice  established  a  sort  of  tariff  for  each  set  of 
offices,  according  to  the  length  of  the  term  and  the  im- 
portance of  the  place.  Thus  a  judgeship,  that  is  to 
say,  the  nomination  to  it,  amounted  to  $15,000;  a  seat 
in  Congress  was  rated  at  $4000 ;  for  membership  of  a 
State  Legislature  $1500  was  demanded;  a  like  amount 
for  the  position  of  alderman  in  a  city  council,  etc.  The 
impossibility  of  getting  into  the  public  service  by  any 
other  channel  resulted  in  a  good  many  perfectly  re- 
spectable and  competent  men  consenting  to  pay  the 
assessments.  But  many  others  got  admission  under 
cover  of  the  assessment  system  who  were  neither  com- 
petent nor  honest  and  were  rather  inclined  to  get  all 
they  could  out  of  their  place  during  the  short  elective 
term.  The  higher  ranks  of  the  judiciary  itself  were  not 
spared,  and  there  were  judges  (happily  the  case  was 
not  very  common)  whose  sole  claim  was  the  contribu- 
tion paid  to  the  Machine.     Thus  the  public  service, 


THE   EVOLUTION  OF  THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      7 1 

which  was  so  deeply  degraded  by  the  practices  of  rota- 
tion and  division  of  the  spoils,  received  another  deadly 
blow  at  the  hands  of  the  Caucus  by  the  assessment 
system.  Public  functions  were  virtually  put  up  to  X 
auction.  The  Organization  assumed  the  full  aspect  of 
which  the  outline  had  long  been  rising  into  view :  from 
a  political  combination  in  the  service  of  a  party,  it  had  i 
come  down  to  an  industrial  concern  for  making  money 
out  of  places ;  it  bought  votes,  worked  up  this  raw  ma- 
terial into  elective  offices,  and  resold  them  with  its 
trade-mark  to  the  highest  bidder. 


FIFTH   CHAPTER 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    THE    CONVENTION    SYSTEM 


(conclusion) 


Commercial       33.   The  traffic  in  placcs  was  only  the  first  stage  of 
exploitation    ^^le  industrialism  with  which  the  Caucus  was  to  imbue 

of  public 

offices  de-  American  public  life.  It  was  followed  by  the  exploita- 
veloped.  tion  of  the  influence  which  those  offices  involved  and 
especially  of  the  power  over  the  public  moneys  which 
they  conferred.  The  case  of  office-holders  procuring,  in 
return  for  a  commission,  government  orders,  contracts 
for  public  works,  etc.,  was  known  before  the  war,  but 
on  a  comparatively  slender  scale,  and  in  a  sporadic 
fashion,  so  to  speak.  After  the  war,  these  practices 
developed  to  the  highest  extent  and  were  reduced 
to  a  system  by  prevaricating  officials  allied  to  jobbers 
and  speculators.  These  combinations  of  plundering 
politicians  soon  became  tolerably  common  under  the 
Rings.  name  of  "Rings."     Their  operations  were  particularly 

favoured  by  the  marvellous  development  of  the  whole 
country,  and  especially  of  the  cities,  with  the  manifold 
branches  of  their  government  and  their  works  of  every 
kind,  daily  increasing  in  number  and  importance. 
The  Rings  appeared  in  the  first  instance,  and  with  the 
greatest  force,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  which  was  the 
first  to  develop  the  Machine,  and  has  produced  the 

72 


THE  EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION    SYSTEM      73 

most  finished  specimen  of  it  in  the  form  of  Tammany 
Hall.  The  part  which  this  Organization  has  played 
there  is  so  thoroughly  representative  of  the  action  of 
the  Machine  in  municipal  government  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  become  acquainted  with  Tammany  Hall,  and 
even  to  linger  for  a  moment  on  its  history. 

Its  origins  are  a  mixture  of  fable  and  history.  It  got  origins  of 
its  name  from  a  legendary  chief  of  an  Indian  tribe,  Tammany 
Tammany,  or  Tammanend,  a  great  warrior,  a  high- 
minded  ruler,  an  illustrious  sage.  When  the  colonists 
shook  off  the  English  yoke,  their  imagination  travelled 
back  to  this  hero  sprung  from  the  very  l^d  which 
they  wished  to  wrest  from  the  despot  beyond  the  seas, 
and  they  placed  themselves  under  the  patronage  of 
Tammanend's  memory.  He  was  canonized  there  and 
then,  and  the  revolutionary  army  adopted  the  cult  of 
St.  Tammany,  with  a  saint's  day  which  was  held  on 
the  12th  of  May,  the  supposed  day  of  his  birth.  From 
the  army  this  cult  passed  into  civil  society,  in  which 
patriots,  and  foremost  among  them  the  "Sons  of 
Liberty,"  founded  St.  Tammany  associations,  for  cul- 
tivating the  love  of  country  and  of  the  Republic  imder 
the  invocation  of  the  legendary  hero.  In  imitation  of 
the  first  Tammany  Society,  founded  at  Philadelphia  in 
1772,  several  others  were  created,  at  New  York,  at 
Baltimore,  and  elsewhere,  but  that  of  New  York  alone 
survived. 

This  society  was  founded  in  1789  with  the  title 
of  "The  Tammany  Society  or  Columbian  Order." 
Created  as  a  secret  society,  the  members  of  which  were 
admitted  and  initiated  with  certain  rites,  Tammany 
adopted  a  singular  organization  with  an  Indian  nomen- 


politics. 


74  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

clature  intended  to  give  prominence  to  its  eminently 
American  character ;  it  was  divided  into  thirteen  tribes, 
corresponding  in  number  to  the  States  which  formed 
the  Union,  each  named  after  an  animal,  —  tiger,  fox, 
wolf,  eagle,  etc.  The  managing  committee  of  the 
society  was  composed  of  thirteen  "sachems"  (chiefs), 
one  of  whom  was  a  '' grand  sachem"  or  "great  father" ; 
a  "sagamore"  officiated  as  master  of  the  ceremonies, 
and  a  "wiskinskie"  discharged  the  more  modest  duties 
of  doorkeeper.  The  members  were  called  "braves"; 
the  place  where  they  met  bore  the  name  of  "wigwam." 
Tammany  34-  During  the  early  years  of  its  existence  the  society 
^^\?^  ^^^°  maintained  the  character  of  a  purely  patriotic  and 
philanthropic  association  which  it  had  assumed.  But 
before  long  politics  crept  into  it.  The  frankly  demo- 
cratic tendencies  of  the  society  drew  it  towards  the 
Jeffersonian  party  and  induced  it  to  join  in  the  great 
electoral  contest  of  1800.  From  and  after  this  date 
Tammany  took  an  ever  increasing  share  in  the  contests 
which  filled  the  public  life  of  New  York.  It  was  the 
centre  of  the  humbler  voters,  attracted  by  its  popular 
tendencies  and  kept  together  by  the  social  cement  of  its 
gatherings  and  brotherly  feasts.  The  suffrage  in  New 
York  being  subject  to  a  property  qualification  (down 
to  182 1),  these  voters  belonged  not  so  much  to  the 
populace  as  to  the  lower  middle  class  and  to  the  cate- 
gory of  artisans,  and  it  was  from  men  of  the  middle 
class  that  they  received  their  impulse.  For  a  long 
time,  therefore,  the  Tammany  Society  preserved  a  de- 
cided stamp  of  respectability. 

Two  great  facts  radically  changed  the  character  and 
tendencies  of  Tammany.     The  introduction  of  universal 


THE  EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      75 

suffrage,  effected  in  182 1,  created  a  new  atmosphere,  in 
which  democratic  aspirations,  being  now  gratified,  lost 
their  mystic  fragrance,  and  in  which  the  Puritan  spirit 
of  the  toiling  lower  middle  class  evaporated.  Tammany 
was  invaded  by  the  mob  element.  Again,  the  voting 
strength  which  the  Tammany  organization  contributed 
to  the  Republican-Democratic  party  soon  made  its 
services  appreciated  and  gained  them  rewards  in  the 
form  of  places  handed  over  to  its  members.  These 
latifundia  ruined  Tammany  morally,  while  developing 
and  confirming  its  power.  They  attracted  to  and  per- 
manently established  in  Tammany  the  mercenary  ele- 
ments. Towards  the  year  1835  Tammany's  entrance 
on  this  path  was  an  accomplished  fact. 

35.    The   establishment  of   the   popular  system   of  Its  sway 
conventions,  together  with  the  extension  of  the  elective  ^^^  ^^^ 

11  1  1-       r  •  1  1      1        T^  •      Democratic 

method  to  public  functions,  placed  the  Democratic  party, 
party,  which  Tammany  claimed  to  represent,  irrevo- 
cably in  its  power:  the  followers  of  Tammany  flocked 
into  the  primaries  and  the  conventions,  and  laid  hold 
of  the  nominations  which  every  orthodox  Democrat 
ratified  on  election  day  by  his  ballot.  Tammany  was 
now  the  regular  organization  of  the  Democratic  party.  ^ 
And  as  the  majority  of  the  population  of  the  city  of 
New  York  was  connected  by  tradition  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  Tammany  became  the  master  of  the  city 
and  of  its  municipal  administration.  Soon  it  gained 
considerable  reinforcements  from  the  European  immi- 
gration. The  tide  of  immigration,  which,  entering 
through  New  York,  spread  over  the  whole  Union,  left 
in  that  city,  as  a  sort  of  residuum,  the  most  wretched,  the 
feeblest,  portion  of  the  human  cargo  dumped  down  on 


76  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE  PARTY    SYSTEM 

the  shores  of  America.  This  class  of  immigrants, 
composed  for  the  most  part  of  Irishmen,  was  marked 
out  as  the  prey  of  the  leaders  of  Tammany  in  search 
of  heedless  or  corrupt  votes;  they  let  themselves  be 
enrolled  by  it  like  so  many  sheep,  and  by  their  ever 
increasing  number  formed  a  sort  of  rock,  which  served 
henceforth  as  a  foundation  for  the  power  of  Tammany. 
Ruled  with  military  discipline,  the  popular  contingents 
at  its  command  carried  invariably  the  nominations  and 
the  elections,  in  case  of  need,  by  fraud  and  violence. 
It  was  an  army  of  democratic  mamelukes,  who  bolstered 
up,  under  republican  forms,  a  real  system  of  despotism, 
wielded  by  a  handful  of  men.  To  support  this  army 
Tammany  had  the  disposal  not  only  of  a  great  number 
of  places  in  the  municipal  administration,  but  of  a  large 
war  fund  provided  by  the  assessments  which  it  began 
to  levy  at  an  early  date.  It  was  Tammany,  one  may 
say,  which  inaugurated  the  system  since  naturalized 
throughout  the  Union.  It  pitilessly  squeezed  all  those 
who  obtained  or  expected  a  nomination  through  its 
good  offices. 

The  respectable  citizens,  too  engrossed  by  their  own 
affairs,  did  not  interfere,  not  realizing  what  was  going 
on,  or  they  deliberately  winked  at  the  wrong-doings  of 
Tammany  out  of  love  for  the  party;  it  supplied  the 
party  with  compact  majorities  at  the  State  and  presi- 
dential elections,  and  the  Democratic  leaders,  even  the 
most  eminent  of  them,  endured  it  when  they  were  not 
cajoling  it.  Its  character  of  the  regular  organization 
of  the  party  rendered  it  unassailable  from  within.  The 
members  of  the  Democratic  party  who  were  hostile  to 
Tammany,  or  who  were  simply  dissentients,  had  no 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      77 

resource  but  schism  or  alliance  with  the  opposite  party. 
They  tried  both.  In  the  course  of  the  last  seventy  years 
there  have  occurred,  in  fact,  more  than  one  rebellion 
against  Tammany  in  the  Democratic  ranks,  but  they 
have  had  no  lasting  success.  For  the  most  part  these 
revolts  and  secessions  came  from  family  quarrels.  The 
spoils  being  of  course  not  enough  to  go  round,  those 
who  considered  themselves  hardly  used  discovered  that 
Tammany  was  a  corrupt  organization,  and  appealed 
to  the  indignation  of  good  citizens.  Sometimes  the  Re- 
publicans thought  it  a  good  opportunity  for  joining  the 
malcontents  and  inflicting  a  defeat  on  Tammany  Hall, 
but  the  Republican  Organization  was  intent  only  on 
the  spoils  and  was  quite  ready  to  sell  itself  to  Tammany 
for  a  mess  of  pottage. 

36.  The  use  which  Tammany  made  of  its  power,  Tweed's 
especially  during  the  period  after  the  war,  had  nothing  ^'^^S- 
in  common  with  the  interests  of  the  party  under  the 
banner  of  which  it  operated ;  considerations  of  political 
principle  or  propriety  were  utterly  foreign  to  it.  Its 
sole  aim  was  to  secure  and  exploit  the  vast  material 
resources  of  the  city.  In  this  the  Tammany  men  dis- 
played an  unexampled  rapacity  and  effrontery.  All 
the  plunderer  rings  made  Tammany  their  base. 

The  most  famous  of  those  Rings  was  that  formed 
by  a  certain  Tweed.  This  man,  who  with  unheard-of 
audacity  looted  the  capital  of  the  New  World,  was  in 
reality  a  vulgar  rogue,  whose  name  under  ordinary 
circumstances  would  not  have  got  beyond  the  reports 
of  the  police  court.  A  chair-maker  by  trade,  lazy  and 
unskilful,  Tweed  soon  gave  up  his  business  and  all 
regular  work  and  launched  into  speculation  and  caucus 


78  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

politics.  A  jovial  fellow,  with  a  fund  of  vulgar  bon- 
homie  and  an  exuberant  nature,  he  managed  to  make 
many  friends  among  the  lower  orders  of  the  city  and  to 
win  supporters  in  the  party  Organization,  which  enabled 
him  to  obtain  several  elective  posts,  where  he  found 
opportunities  for  jobbery.  But  Tweed's  ambitions,  or 
rather  appetites,  were  of  no  ordinary  kind.  Having 
come  into  contact,  in  the  municipal  life  of  New  York, 
with  a  few  individuals  almost  as  obscure  and  just  as 
greedy  as  himself,  they  spontaneously  combined  for  the 
same  object  of  laying  hands  on  the  city.  But  how 
were  they  to  get  a  hold  on  it?  They  had  no  need  to 
look  for  the  lever  of  Archimedes;  it  was  there,  con- 
cealed in  the  party  Organizations  which  distributed 
power.  The  strongest  Organization  was  Tammany 
Hall  (it  was  so  called  from  the  building  where  the 
famous  society  met),  and  the  conspirators  directed  their 
steps  towards  it.  By  a  series  of  skilful  movements 
they  made  their  way  into  its  General  Committee,  be-' 
came  the  masters  of  it,  and  from  that  moment  the  city 
of  New  York  was  virtually  at  their  feet.  Tweed  and 
his  three  associates  formed  by  themselves  the  managing 
Ring.  Disposing  through  Tammany  of  nominations 
to  offices,  they  filled  the  whole  municipal  adminis- 
tration with  their  creatures,  raised  to  the  bench  worth- 
less individuals  who  sold  justice  "like  grocers,"  but 
who  faithfully  served  the  Ring  by  screening  its  ofifend- 
ing  proteges  from  the  rigour  of  the  law,  or  by  granting 
it  other  favours.  The  members  of  the  Ring  took  the 
most  important  and  influential  posts  in  the  municipal 
administration  for  themselves. 

Extensive  public  works  served  as  a  pretext  for  giving, 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      79 

at  the  cost  of  the  ratepayers,  real  or  fictitious  occupa-  Its  methods 
tion  to  a  mass  of  people,  who  in  return  carried  out  the  ?^  ^t^e  dty 
political  orders  of  the  Ring.  .  To  enlarge  the  number 
of  voters  at  its  beck  and  call,  the  Ring  procured  natural- 
izations en  masse  of  aliens  in  violation  of  the  law. 
Moreover,  it  organized  on  an  equally  extensive  scale  a 
fraudulent  registration  of  voters,  by  getting  fictitious 
names  put  on  the  register,  which  were  used  afterwards 
for  voting.  At  the  poll  the  election  inspectors  ap- 
pointed by  the  Ring  made  a  false  return.  The  Gov- 
ernor was  the  candidate  of  the  Ring;  the  Legislature 
as  well  was  on  his  side;  Tweed  himself  held  a  seat 
there,  he  got  himself  elected  senator  and  succeeded 
even"ln  obtaining  the  chairmanship  of  the  most  im- 
portant senatorial  committee. 

Screened  on  all  sides,  Tweed  and  his  associates 
quietly  robbed  the  city  exchequer.  For  instance,  they 
got  friends  to  buy  plots  of  land  which  the  city  after- 
wards acquired  for  public  purposes  at  extravagant 
prices;  or  sent  in  fictitious  claims,  which  the  city  paid 
without  asking  a  question;  or  again,  and  very  often, 
forced  the  contractors  and  tradesmen  to  swell  the  totals 
of  the  accounts  and  to  hand  them  the  difference  between 
the  real  price  and  the  invoice  price.  These  last  frauds 
were  fabulous  in  their  extent,  and  to  them  the  building 
and  furnishing  of  the  law  courts  constitute  an  imperish- 
able monument.  According  to  the  estimate,  it  was  to 
cost  $250,000,  but  it  swallowed  up  from  eight  to  thirteen 
millions,  without  being  finished ;  each  chair  cost  $407, 
and  the  rest  in  proportion. 

The  Ring  carried  on  its  operations  for  several  years 
quite  unchecked,  the  bribed  Press  keeping  silence,  and 


8o  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

the  electorate  being  dragged  at  the  heels  of  Tammany 
which  it  followed  out  of  party  loyalty  or  personal 
interest.  The  money  embezzled  by  the  leaders  of  the 
Ring  flowed  in  a  golden  stream,  as  we  are  already 
aware,  among  a  vast  number  of  voters,  in  various 
forms,  so  that  the  latter  only  profited  by  the  regime  of 
plunder.  Taxes  they  had  none  to  pay;  the  rich  paid 
them,  and  if  they  were  fleeced,  where  was  the  harm? 
Quite  accidentally  some  fraudulent  accounts  came  to  a 
newspaper,  and  the  scandal  burst  out.  The  members 
of  the  Ring,  by  betraying  one  another  to  save  their 
skin,  facilitated  the  enquiry  into  their  misdeeds,  but 
considerable  efforts  were  required  to  dislodge  them. 
Unmasked  and  publicly  convicted,  Tweed  snapped  his 
fingers  at  public  opinion  and  the  law  by  asking :  "  What 
are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  and  what  was  more 
characteristic,  he  was  not  left  in  the  lurch,  either  by 
the  troop  of  his  lieutenants  and  sub-lieutenants,  or  by 
the  voters  of  his  district,  who  triumphantly  re-elected 
him  to  the  Senate  of  the  State.  Eventually  the  Ring 
was  defeated  at  the  municipal  election,  and  its  principal 
members  and  acolytes  were  prosecuted  or  forced  to 
abscond  or  retire.  The  operations  of  the  Ring  cost  the 
rate-payers  $160,000,000  at  the  lowest  computation; 
the  consolidated  debt  of  the  city  increased  by  more 
than  $100,000,000,  and  the  annual  expenditure  was 
doubled. 
More  re-  37-    But  the  lesson  was  of  little  service  to  the  city  of 

fined  jyjg-yy^  York ;  after  a  short  time,  when  the  champions  of 

of  looting,  honest  government  got  slack,  Tammany  recovered  itself, 
and  in  1874  it  was  once  more  in  possession  of  the 
mayoralty.     For  a  time  Tammany  was  more  careful 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      8 1 

in  the  choice  of  its  candidates,  simply  in  order  to 
lull  the  vigilance  of  the  voters  by  making  them  believe 
that  it  had  turned  over  a  new  leaf,  although  it  confined 
these  tactics  only  to  the  most  conspicuous  offices 
which  headed  the  list.  The  rest  of  the  ticket  was  filled 
up  as  before  with  corrupt  or  vulgar  men,  not  excepting 
the  members  of  the  town  council.  On  a  larger  or 
smaller  scale  the  plundering  was  going  on.  Only, 
taught  by  Tweed's  experience,  his  successors  changed 
their  modus  operandi;  they  took  care  not  to  swell 
the  taxes;  but  in  return  they  developed  a  complete 
system  of  blackmailing.  The  principal  instrument  of 
this  plunder  was  the  police ;  they  levied  a  regular  toll, 
prescribed  by  a  fixed  tariff,  on  all  the  saloons, 
houses  of  ill-fame,  and  gambling-hells;  extorted 
money,  on  false  pretences  or  on  no  pretence  at  all, 
from  small  traders  whom  they  had  the  power  of  molest- 
ing. Other  perfectly  lawful  businesses  were  subjected 
to  a  tribute :  steamboat  companies,  insurance  societies, 
banks,  etc.,  paid  blackmail  in  return  for  the  *' protec- 
tion'' accorded  to  them.  The  police  captains  and  even 
the  policemen  had  to  buy  their  places.  "The  govern- 
ment of  the  city  in  fact  became  a  huge  market,  in  which 
the  officers  might  as  well  have  sat  at  little  tables  and 
sold  their  wares  openly." 

The  revelation  of  these  scandals,  due  to  the  coura- 
geous initiative  of  private  individuals,  produced,  in 
1894,  a  revolt  like  that  formerly  directed  against  Tweed 
and  his  gang :  the  independent  citizens  and  those  Demo- 
crats who  were  indignant  at  or  jealous  of  Tammany, 
having  made  common  cause  with  the  Republicans,  the 
coalition  defeated  Tammany  Hall  and  carried  out  a 


82  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

cleansing  process  in  the  administration,  in  the  ordinary 
as  well  as  the  metaphorical  sense  of  the  words;  it  re- 
formed the  police  and  had  the  streets  swept,  which 
under  the  Tammany  regime  had  been  left  in  a  dirty 
state  from  motives  of  economy.  But  at  the  next  elec- 
tion Tammany  returned  into  power.  In  1901  a  for- 
midable revolt  led  by  the  independents  got  the  better 
of  Tammany  and  installed  in  the  city  an  honest  reform 
administration  with  Mr.  Seth  Low  at  its  head.  But 
it  was  evidently  too  good  for  New  York;  after  three 
years  Tammany  won  back  its  power.  At  the  last  elec- 
tion, of  1909,  Tammany  still  got  in  its  nominee  for  the 
mayoralty,  but  its  other  candidates  were  defeated,  and 
the  city  administration  seems  to  breathe  a  fresher  air. 
Phila-  38.    This  very  summary  sketch  of  the  history  of 

e  phia  Tammany  Hall  and  of  the  municipal  administration  of 

New  York,  which  is  indissolubly  connected  with  it, 
certainly  presents  an  extraordinary  career,  but  by  no 
means  an  exceptional  one;  the  same  features  will  be 
found  in  that  of  most  of  the  large  cities  of  the  Union; 
Tammany  has  only  exhibited  them  in  a  singularly 
exaggerated  form.  Moreover,  some  of  these  cities 
were  not  better  off  than  New  York,  and  had  a  his- 
tory somewhat  resembling  that  of  Tammany  Hall. 
Thus  almost  at  the  very  moment  when  Tweed's  Ring 
was  being  overthrown  at  New  York,  amid  shouts  of 
general  indignation,  in  the  second  municipality  of  the 
Republic,  in  Philadelphia,  a  Ring  was  being  installed 
which  was  to  be  master  of  the  city  for  years  to  come. 
This  was  the  Gas  Ring,  the  most  famous,  next  to 
Tammany's,  in  the  annals  of  American  municipal  life. 
A  few  needy  and  ambitious  individuals  succeeded  in 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      83 

getting  places  in  the  municipal  Gas  Department.  Hav- 
ing under  their  orders  a  very  large  number  of  employees 
and  workmen  (as  many  as  two  thousand),  they  conceived 
the  idea  of  turning  them  into  political  agents.  Me- 
thodically distributed  among  all  the  wards  of  the  city, 
the  Gas  Department  people  filled  the  primaries  and,  ^ 
thanks  to  their  number  and  their  discipline,  secured 
majorities  for  the  delegates  whom  their  employers 
pointed  out  to  them  beforehand.  No  candidate  hostile 
to  the  Ring  could  obtain  a  nomination.  No  one  who 
had  not  given  pledges  to  the  Ring  could  be  elected  either 
to  mimicipal  assemblies,  or  even  to  the  State  Legis- 
lature or  Congress.  For  the  Ring,  following  the  ex- 
ample of  its  prototype  of  New  York,  took  care  to  ally 
itself  with  the  dominant  political  party,  which  was  in 
Philadelphia  the  Republican  party.  Finally  the  Ring 
managed  to  fill  the  whole  municipal  administration  and 
most  of  the  town  councils  with  its  creatures,  and  to 
plant  its  garrison  in  the  State  Legislature. 

Once  in  power,  the  Gas  Ring  exploited  the  city  ex- 
chequer just  as  methodically  as,  but  with  more  pru- 
dence and  decency  than,  the  Tammany  Ring ;  the  con- 
trollers of  the  Gas  Ring  did  not  rob  with  the  same 
effrontery  as  Tweed  and  Co.  But  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia was  no  better  off;  its  debt  increased  at  the 
rate  of  three  millions  a  year,  without  any  important 
improvement  being  introduced  into  the  municipal 
plant;  "inefficiency,  waste,  badly  paved  and  filthy 
streets,  unwholesome  and  offensive  water,  and  slovenly 
and  costly  management  have  been  the  rule  for  years 
past  throughout  the  city  government."  The  Ring 
manufactured  majorities  at  the  polls  by  means  of  frauds 


84  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

in  voting  and  in  the  counting  of  the  ballots ;  it  bought 
votes  wholesale  and  retail,  forcing  all  those  who  re- 
ceived salaries  from  the  city  to  provide  the  wherewithal 
for  corruption.  The  policemen  themselves  had  to  con- 
tribute. Like  the  Tammany  Ring,  the  Gas  Ring 
stopped  the  mouth  of  the  Press  by  regular  subsidies,  so 
that  not  a  single  paper  could  be  found  to  plead  the  cause 
of  honest  government.  It  took  ten  years  of  struggles  to 
overthrow  the  Ring.  But,  as  in  New  York,  the  triumph 
of  the  good  citizens  was  not  of  long  duration.  The 
municipal  administration  once  more  fell  under  the 
yoke  of  the  Machine,  whose  managers  exploited  it  on 
more  or  less  commercial  lines.  Abuses  were  not  so 
flagrant,  but  extravagance  nevertheless  continued  to 
characterize  the  municipal  government  of  Philadelphia. 
Graft  in  39-    Among  the  other  large  cities,  several,  especially 

other  Washington,  New  Orleans,  San  Francisco,  Cincinnati, 

Chicago,  were  hardly  better  ofif  than  Philadelphia  or 
New  York  in  the  matter  of  Rings.  Elsewhere  munici- 
pal disorders  occurred  on  a  smaller  scale,  but  under 
almost  similar  conditions ;  that  is  to  say,  that  wherever 
municipal  resources  whetted  people's  appetites,  and  a 
large  population  devoid  of  natural  cohesion  and  public 
spirit,  but  abounding  in  floating  and  corrupt  elements, 
and' wedded  to  the  notion  of  "regularity,"  could  be 
easily  taken  in  tow  by  the  party  Machine,  the  latter 
allowed  the  municipal  property  to  become  the  prey  of 
the  boldest  spirits.  Almost  all  the  cities  whose  popu- 
lation exceeded  100,000,  or  even  a  lesser  figure,  had 
their  Rings.  In  the  course  of  these  last  years  many 
great  cities,  such  as  St.  Louis,  Minneapolis,  San 
Francisco,  added  new  pages  of  disgrace  to  the  his- 


cities. 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      85 

tory  of  municipal  corruption  carried  on  under  the  flag 
of  political  parties.  The  methods  were  more  or  less 
the  same ;  the  only  new  thing  about  it  was  the  expres- 
sion of  slang  applied  to  that  sort  of  corruption  and  to 
its  artisans  —  graft,  grafters. 

When  the  scandals  reached  their  highest  pitch,  or 
the  burden  of  taxation  became  intolerable,  the  good 
citizens  shook  off  their  indifference,  and  marched  against 
the  enemies  of  the  public  weal  entrenched  behind  the 
Machine  of  the  predominant  party.  The  independents 
combined  with  the  rival  party  for  this  purpose,  de- 
tached honest  citizens  from  the  party  in  power,  and 
often  succeeded  in  overthrowing  the  Ring.  But  as  a 
general  rule  even  the  most  successful  of  these  revolts, 
the  most  victorious  ones,  were  but  incidents,  which 
merely  made  a  break  in  the  continuity  of  the  power 
of  the  Machine.  Hardly  freed  from  its  yoke,  the 
American  cities  for  the  most  part  soon  fell  under  it 
again,  for  this  simple  reason,  that  the  principal  factors 
of  the  situation  remained  the  same.  When  the  anger 
provoked  by  the  sudden  revelation  of  the  scandals 
calmed  down,  and  when  the  vigilance  of  the  good 
citizens  began  to  tire,  which  was  always  pretty  soon, 
the  permanent  forces  on  which  the  Machine  rested, 
after  having  been  in  abeyance  for  a  moment,  asserted 
themselves  once  more. 

40.   The  direct  exploitation  of  municipal  interests,  Corpora- 
on  the  brutal  methods  popularized  by  Tweed,  was  at  ^'°^  ^?^ 
an  early  stage  supplemented,  and  afterwards  more  and  municipal 
more   replaced,    by    indirect   exploitation.     This   last  franchises, 
method  was  peculiarly  favoured  by  the  rise  of  joint- 
stock  industrial  concerns,  of  corporations,  which  un- 


86  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

derwent  extraordinary  expansion  after  the  war.  A 
concentration  of  capital  unprecedented  in  history 
made  a  comparatively  limited  number  of  capitalist 
combinations  masters  of  most  of  the  economic  func- 
tions of  the  country.  Daily  spreading  further  and 
further,  the  companies  overran  the  American  con- 
tinent all  the  more  easily  that  the  notions  and  the 
habits  of  individual  freedom  and  non-intervention  of 
the  State,  which  had  passed  into  dogmas,  secured  in- 
dustrial liberty.  While  rendering  great  services  to  the 
community  and  developing  its  economic  life  with  in- 
creasing force  and  rapidity,  the  corporations  exhibited 
insatiable  greed  and,  as  it  were,  an  innate  tendency  to 
push  their  way  by  trampling  on  the  interests  which 
crossed  their  path.  They  tried  to  create  monopolies 
by  crushing  competition  per  fas  et  nefas.  Having  com- 
mand of  money,  the  corporations  used  it  lavishly  to 
buy  the  support  and  the  connivance  of  which  they 
stood  in  need. 

Their  operations  were  directed  in  the  first  place 
against  municipal  administration,  with  a  view  to  ob- 
taining from  it  concessions  for  street-cars,  railways, 
railroads  in  transit,  gas  works,  electrical  supply,  water 
works,  etc.  The  companies  more  often  than  not 
managed  to  get  these  concessions  or  "franchises'* 
gratis,  or  by  payment  of  an  absurdly  small  due;  they 
bought  the  members  of  the  city  councils,  which  were 
generally  filled,  thanks  to  the  Caucus,  with  politicians 
of  a  low  stamp.  The  traffic  in  franchises  became  very 
common  in  the  large  cities;  it  created  a  particular 
type  of  city  councillors,  who  acquired  a  melancholy 
popularity  under  the  name  of   "boodle  aldermen." 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      87 

These  municipal  freebooters,  organized  in  "rings"  or 
"combines,"  were  making  money  without  taking  it 
directly  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  ratepayers,  but  the 
loss  was  none  the  less  enormous  to  the  latter;  for  if 
the  companies  had  paid  the  cities  for  the  franchises, 
or  paid  what  they  were  worth,  there  would  have  been 
no  need,  as  has  been  calculated  in  the  case  of  New 
York,  for  instance,  of  municipal  taxes  to  defray  the 
city  expenditure.  While  buying  boodle  aldermen  di- 
rectly, the  corporations  sometimes  supplemented  this 
resource  by  trying  to  pack  the  councils  in  their  own 
way,  intervening  with  their  money  in  the  primaries  and 
the  conventions,  or  subsidizing  the  party  Machine  to 
get  the  benefit  of  its  influence  with  its  nominees. 

41.   Relations  of  this  kind  between  the  party  Or-  The  great 
ganizations  and  the  corporations  grew  up  especially  ^°"°l^^^3 
in  the  larger  sphere  of   State   and   Union,  in   which  the  party 
the    biff    companies    took    their    full    scope.      With  O^ganiza- 

1.  1  .  r  r       1  tionS. 

mterests  extendmg  over  the  economic  surface  of  the 
country,  and  with  an  unquenchable  thirst  for  gain, 
they  needed  still  more  the  complaisance  of  Congress 
and  of  the  State  Legislatures.  But  to  buy  the  mem- 
bers of  those  higher  assemblies  singly,  as  plain  alder- 
men were  bought,  was  not  such  an  easy  matter.  The 
party  Organizations  very  often  provided  a  way  of  get- 
ting round  them  more  cheaply  and  more  effectively. 
Entering  into  alliance  with  the  Organizations,  by  means 
of  heavy  contributions  to  their  funds,  or  even  by  pay- 
ing them  the  whole  bill  of  the  election  campaign,  the 
corporations  obtained  a  hold  over  the  representatives. 
Direct  legislative  bribery  was  not  on  that  account  im- 
known;    not  often  met  with  in  Congress,  it  was  far 


88  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

more  common  in  the  State  Legislatures;  but  even  in 
these  assemblies  a  large  proportion  or  most  of  the 
members  were  not  to  be  bought,  and  if  they  showed 
themselves  too  obliging  to  the  corporations,  it  was 
more  often  because  their  dependent  position  with  regard 
to  the  party  Organizations  and  their  powerful  backers 
forced  them  to  be  so.  A  member  of  the  Legislature  of 
New  York  has  pathetically  explained  this  by  saying  to 
a  journalist:  "I  want  to  be  honest,  and  I  am  honest; 
but  I  am  the  slave  of  the  Organization,  and  if  I  kick 
out  I  am  politically  ruined." 
The  rail-  Under  one  aspect  or  another  the  party  Organizations 

roads.  appeared  as  the  base  of  operations  for  all  the  great 

private  interests  in  their  efforts  to  bend  the  power  of 
the  State  to  their  own  selfish  ends.  The  railroad  com- 
panies took  the  lead  in  the  attack  delivered  by  mo- 
nopoly. The  construction  of  the  immense  network  of 
railroads,  their  financial  management,  and  their  work- 
ing were  marked  by  flagrant  abuses,  committed  with 
the  help  or  the  acquiescence  of  the  State  for  the  benefit  of 
small  rings  of  financiers  and  speculators,  who  com- 
\  mended  themselves  by  their  layish  contributions  to  the 
funds  of  the  party  Organizations.  When  it  became 
clear  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  have  the  rail- 
roads supervised  and  regulated  by  the  State,  the  com- 
panies began  a  desperate  struggle  to  escape  from  it.  For 
a  considerable  time  they  held  the  State  in  check  by  means 
of  the  direct  corruption  of  the  lobby,  as  well  as  through 
the  medium  of  the  party  Organization.  They  con- 
cluded alliances  with  the  most  corrupt  Machines  and 
Rings.  They  equipped  and  kept  up  political  Organi- 
zations for  their  own  use,  and  ran  them  as  they  pleased, 


THE   EVOLUTION  OF   THE   CONVENTION    SYSTEM      89 

like  their  trains ;  intervened  in  all  the  presidential  elec- 
tions; tried  to  settle  to  their  liking  the  elections  of 
governors,  of  judges,  of  members  of  Legislatures,  and 
even  to  fix  the  committees  in  the  assemblies.  Certain 
States  became  completely  dependent  on  the  railroads, 
were  "owned"  by  them.  In  Congress  itself  the  rail- 
roads wielded  a  decisive  influence;  a  good  many  of 
their  magnates  had  seats  in  the  Senate. 

In  the  States  of  the  West  in  which  people  were  par- 
ticularly exasperated  at  the  abuses  of  the  railroads,  they 
succeeded  over  and  over  again  in  defeating  the  coali- 
tions of  the  railroads  with  the  party  Organizations  and 
in  getting  laws  passed  which  curtailed  the  power  of  the 
companies,  but  these  coalitions  continued  all  the  same, 
and  frequently  had  their  revenge.  Most  of  the  laws 
enacted,  which  were  often  extravagant  and  unpractical, 
were  repealed,  or  their  application  was  paralyzed  by 
the  connections  which  the  railroads  possessed  in  the 
Legislatures,  the  government  departments,  and  even 
in  the  law  courts.  Legitimate  attacks  provoked  by 
the  monopolist  power  and  the  corrupt  influence  of  the 
companies  were  followed  by  others  which  were  not; 
the  unpopularity  of  the  companies  with  the  public 
made  them  a  target  for  venal  legislators,  who  brought 
in  bills  directed  against  this  or  that  company  with  the 
sole  object  of  being  paid  to  withdraw  their  proposals. 
The  companies  fought  these  blackmailers  (called 
"strikers")  with  the  same  devices  which  they  employed 
to  buy  the  laws  of  which  they  stood  in  need,  —  lobby- 
ing and  influence  of  the  party  Organizations,  to  which 
they  made  regular  contributions,  in  the  nature  of  in- 
surance premiums,  "  for  protection."   Soon  they  fell  into 


90  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

the  habit  of  subscribing  to  the  funds  of  the  Organiza- 
tion of  both  parties  in  the  same  State  or  the  same  city, 
with  the  knowledge  of  both,  just  as  insurances  of  the 
same  property  against  fire  or  other  accidents  are 
effected  in  several  companies  simultaneously. 
The  Trusts.  42.  Precisely  similar  relations  grew  up  between  the 
party  Organizations  and  the  various  monopolized  in- 
dustries which  came  after  that  of  the  railroads  in  the 
economic  evolution  of  America,  and  the  most  important 
of  which  obtained  a  far-reaching  notoriety  under  the 
name  of  "Trusts,"  with  the  Standard  Oil  Company  at 
their  head.  They  all  owed  their  existence  and  their 
unchecked  growth  more  or  less  to  the  negligence  or  the 
improper  intervention  of  the  authorities;  in  any  event 
they  had  an  interest  in  not  being  interfered  with  gratui- 
tously, and  they  were  glad  to  pay  for  their  "  protection." 
The  directors  of  the  Sugar  Trust,  the  most  important 
after  the  Oil  Trust,  admitted  this  before  the  com- 
mittee of  enquiry  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
representing  it  as  perfectly  natural,  and  even  as  right 
and  proper.  "  We  have  a  good  deal  of  local  protection 
for  our  contribution."  .  .  .  "Do  you  think  it  is  per- 
fectly proper?"  ...  "I  think  as  parties  are  now 
managed  it  is  perfectly  proper." 
The  Pro-  While    Certain    industrial    interests    bought    "pro- 

tectionists, tection"  retail  from  local  political  organizations,  other 
concerns  whose  interests  and  appetites  could  obtain 
satisfaction  only  through  Federal  legislation  allied  them- 
selves with  one  of  the  two  national  parties  which  were 
contending  for  power.  Foremost  among  the  private 
interests  of  the  second  category  came  the  manufacturing 
industries,  always  in  quest  of  "protective"  customs 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      QI 

duties.  Those  duties,  greatly  enhanced  at  the  time  of 
the  Civil  War  to  meet  the  extraordinary  expenses,  were 
to  be  of  a  provisional  character  only.  But  the  manu- 
facturers, anxious  to  perpetuate  them,  sought  to  con- 
tinue in  power  the  Republican  party,  under  whose 
auspices  the  protectionist  tariff  has  been  enacted.  They 
supplied  the  Republican  Organization  with  "fat," 
with  money  for  its  election  campaigns,  and  in  return 
they  obtained  more  and  higher  protective  duties  for 
their  products,  which  enabled  them  to  make  enormous 
fortunes.  It  was  no  use  for  the  budget  to  show  a  large 
surplus  of  receipts  every  year;  the  duties  were  kept 
up  just  the  same.  Confronted  with  the  Democratic 
President  Cleveland,  who  courageously  waged  war  on  ex- 
travagant Protection,  the  manufacturers  tried  to  replace 
him  by  a  man  after  their  heart,  McKinley,  author  of 
the  tariff  bearing  his  name.  Helped  by  circumstances, 
they  succeeded  in  getting  the  latter  elected.  In  return 
McKinley  secured  for  them  from  Congress  a  new  tariff, 
still  more  prohibitive. 

The  campaign  of  the  silverites  who  contested  the  The 
Presidency  against  McKinley  was,  in  its  turn,  to  a  great  ^ilventes. 
extent  a  speculation  of  wealthy  industrial  interests 
trying  to  exploit  the  power  of  the  State  for  their  own  ad- 
vantage. The  increasing  production  of  silver,  owing 
to  the  discovery  of  new  mines  in  the  Far  West,  was 
steadily  lowering  the  price  of  this  metal,  so  that  the 
ratio  between  gold  and  silver,  which  used  to  be  i6  to  i 
and  determined  the  monetary  standard,  had  fallen  in  the 
market  as  low  as  31  to  i.  The  producers  of  silver 
wanted  to  benefit  by  the  difference  between  the  legal 
ratio  and  the  commercial  one,  and  they  demanded  free 


92  DEMOCRACY    AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

coinage  of  the  metal,  coupled  of  course  with  the  im- 
primatur of  the  State,  which  would  give  their  commod- 
ity a  forced  currency.  Striving  to  seize  the  power  for 
that  purpose,  they  took  as  their  weapon  the  Organiza- 
tion of  the  Democratic  party.  The  Organization  al- 
lowed itself  to  be  captured  by  the  wealthy  owners  of  the 
mines,  and  made  over  to  the  champions  of  the  white 
metal  the  votes  of  the  bulk  of  the  "regular"  adherents 
of  the  party.  The  enterprise  failed,  but  that  was  not 
the  fault  of  the  Democratic  Organization. 

Following  the  example  of  the  large  industrial  or  specu- 
lative undertakings  which  I  have  just  described,  all 
the  other  private  interests  with  something  to  hope  or 
fear  from  the  State,  which  could  be  affected  by  legis- 
lation, paid  tribute  to  the  party  Organizations,  bought 
their  support  and  patronage  with  ready  money;  and 
when  they  were  slow  about  asking  for  it,  the  Organiza- 
tion thrust  it  on  them  to  get  the  price  of  it.  It  was  the 
extension  to  a  larger  sphere  of  the  methods  of  Tammany 
Hall  in  all  their  fulness.  The  material  exploitation 
of  the  electoral  monopoly  acquired  by  the  party  Or- 
ganization reached  its  climax ;  from  a  broker  in  offices 
it  rose  to  be  a  trafficker  in  political  influence;  along 
with  elective  posts  it  sold  the  power  residing  in  them, 
beginning  with  the  adjudication  of  contracts,  govern- 
ment orders,  and  public  works,  and  ending  with  a 
wholesale  and  retail  trade  in  legislation  and  "  protection." 
Thus  the  operations  and  the  influence  of  the  extra- 
constitutional  organization  which  grew  within  the  State 
expanded  into  all  spheres  of  public  life,  driving  back  or 
encroaching  everywhere  upon  the  power  of  the  consti- 
tuted authorities  or  of  the  laws. 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      93 

43.  The  traffic  in  political  influence  carried  on  by  the  Bossism. 
politicians  and  the  manipulation  of  the  electoral  masses 
on  which  it  depended  became  more  intricate  through 
the  growing  number  of  voters  and  their  differentiation. 
A  strong  rule  was  needed,  which  should  be  the  more 
blindly  obeyed  that  it  lacked  a  moral  foundation.  Such 
a  government  appeared,  by  a  natural  evolution,  after 
the  war,  in  the  person  of  the  autocratic  Machine  leaders, 
who  wielded  power  like  the"  tyrants"  of  the  Greek  cities. 
In  America  they  received  the  name  of  "boss,"  which 
has  become  as  popular  as  that  of  Caucus  and  Machine. 
The  name  dates  from  the  Dutch  period  in  the  history 
of  New  York,  and  comes  from  the  Dutch  word  "baas," 
which  means  master,  employer,  and  had  long  been  com- 
mon in  everyday  language.  After  the  Civil  War  it 
became  a  political  term  applied  sarcastically  to  politi- 
cians who,  in  spite  of  democratic  appearances,  ruled 
despotically  and  wielded  a  usurped  power.  "  Bossism" 
marked  the  last  stage  in  the  evolution  of  the  extra-con- 
stitutional power  brought  about  by  the  regime  of  the 
American  parties. 

The  large  cities  were  the  first  to  develop  this  species  City  bosses, 
of  ruler,  thanks  to  the  heterogeneous  character  of  their 
inhabitants,  and  to  the  caesarean  instincts,  which  al- 
ways incline  the  masses  to  embody  their  political  feel- 
ings in  a  man.  Imbued  with  these  propensities,  the 
populations  of  the  big  cities  lent  the  politicians  their 
large  stock  of  personal  loyalty,  which,  passing  from 
hand  to  hand,  like  a  bill  of  exchange  with  successive  in- 
dorsements, was  ultimately  invested  in  a  supreme  chief. 
This  man,  who  took  the  lead  because  he  showed  the 
most  energy  and  skill  in  managing  those  who  knew  how 


94  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  PARTY    SYSTEM 

to  manage  the  masses,  had  only  to  transform  the  loyalty 
dammed  up  in  the  party  channel  into  votes  and  public 
offices  to  make  it  the  foundation  of  his  power.  His  sole 
obligation  was  to  assign  their  quota  of  the  profits  which 
he  made  to  all  the  intermediaries  who  collected  the  elec- 
toral raw  material  and  passed  it  on  to  him.  The  liability 
was  not  a  very  heavy  one,  if  the  offices  and  other  sources 
of  gain  were  abundant.  All  these  conditions  happened 
to  be  first  combined  in  the  home  of  Tammany,  in  New 
York,  and  it  was  there  that  the  first  bosses  made  their 
appearance.  Tweed,  whose  figure  is  familiar  to  us, 
was  exactly  a  "boss"  who,  while  leaving  the  forms  of 
popular  government  intact,  practically  monopolized  its 
powers  and  ruled  the  city  despotically.  It  was  to  him, 
it  appears,  that  the  term  "boss"  was  first  applied? 
His  brilliant  career  was  prematurely  cut  short  by  his 
imprisonment,  but  the  position  of  boss  did  not  long 
remain  vacant  in  New  York.  L.In  the  other  large  cities 
boss  rule  also  asserted  itself,  without  presenting  the  same 
continuity  and  the  same  fulness  of  power  as  in  New 
York  and  Philadelphia. 
State  bosses  The  boss  also  made  his  appearance  in  the  political 
and  sena-     gphere  of  the  States.     He  was  called  into  existence  there 

tonalbosses.    /     ^  .  .  ....  ^      ^  .       . 

by  the  same  necessities  as  m  the  cities :  the  Organization 

scattered  over  the  vast  area  of  the  State  required  a  head, 
especially  in  view  of  its  relations  with  the  Federal  Execu-  , 
tive,  which,  acting  on  the  system  of  spoils,  appor- 
tioned them  among  the  "workers"  in  the  States.  To 
make  these  distributions  the  President  stood  no  less  in 
need  of  responsible  intermediaries.  As  we  are  already 
aware,  this  duty  was  assumed  by  the  Senators ;  they  were 
generally  the  State  bosses.     Having,  like  their  proto- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      95 

types  of  the  cities,  attained  their  position  by  a  process  of 
natural  selection,  they  wielded,  thanks  to  their  influence 
over  the  State  Machine,  a  similar  power,  which  in  certain 
States,  headed  by  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mary- 
land, bordered  on  pure  absolutism.  They  distributed 
the  nominations,  that  is  to  say,  decided  who  should  be 
candidates  for  the  Legislature  and  for  the  other  high 
offices  of  the  State;  they  collected  the  assessments ;  the 
State  Legislature,  which  they  had  made  with  their 
Machine,  was  at  their  orders. 

Upholding  their  authority  chiefly  by  the  bestowal  of 
Federal  ofiices,  the  State  bosses  felt  the  need  of  a 
firm  footing  at  Washington,  and  to  that  end  the 
seats  in  the  Senate,  which  shared  with  the  President 
his  prerogative  of  appointing  to  the  higher  offices, 
were  specially  valuable.  The  State  bosses,  therefore, 
emerging  from  the  retired  position  in  which  the  city 
bosses  often  remained,  generally  got  themselves  ap- 
pointed Senators,  and  in  the  double  capacity  of  State 
boss  and  Senator  they  could  take  a  high  tone  with  the 
President  and  impose  their  will  on  him.  In  the  States 
where  the  Machine  had  not  developed  to  any  great  ex- 
tent, bossism  naturally  found  the  ground  less  favourable, 
but  the  tendency  towards  this  regime  was  exhibited 
almost  everywhere,  appearing  in  one  place  with  well- 
marked  traits,  in  another  assuming  a  vaguer  or  fainter 
outline,  according  to  the  local  circumstances  and  the 
somewhat  changeable  conditions  of  the  moment  in  the 
local  life  of  parties. 

44.   The  r61e  of  senatorial  boss,  considerable  as  it  The  boss  a 
was,  remained,  however,  confined  to  matters  of  patron-  ^^^^^^^^ 
age  of  the  State;   it  did  not  extend  to  government  in 


man. 


g6  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

general,  to  national  policy.  Bossism  made  a  tentative 
movement  in  that  direction.  During  Grant's  Presi- 
dency a  sort  of  syndicate  of  powerful  bosses  was  formed 
in  the  Senate,  called  the  "Senatorial  Group,"  which, 
with  the  President's  connivance,  dictated  the  policy 
of  the  national  government.  But  after  Grant's  depar- 
ture the  bosses'  syndicate  disappeared.  The  bosses 
fell  back  upon  local  affairs  in  the  States  and  the 
cities.  Almost  from  the  very  outset  of  their  career  they 
had  been  strongly  tempted  by  interests  other  than  those 
of  politics  in  the  European  sense  of  the  word.  The 
system  of  "regular"  nominations  and  assessments, 
which  brought  in  money,  opened  out  to  the  boss  com- 
mercial prospects,  which  were  widened  in  a  marked 
degree  by  the  expansion  of  financial  undertakings. 

The  latter,  anxious  to  secure  the  connivance  of  the 
public  authorities,  bethought  themselves,  as  we  have 
already  noted,  to  direct  the  corruption,  for  the  sake  of 
greater  economy  and  efficiency,  by  the  party  Organiza- 
tions, which  made  and  unmade  the  elective  bodies.  But 
to  come  to  an  understanding  with  them  for  this  purpose, 
and  to  keep  up  the  delicate  and  continuous  relations 
which  the  plan  required,  the  capitalists,  the  corporations, 
stood  in  need  of  intermediaries  who  could  be  relied  upon 
for  the  discretion  demanded  of  a  go-between  and  who 
possessed  unquestioned  influence.  The  political  boss, 
the  autocrat  of  the  Machine,  who  had  just  broken 
through  the  shell  of  the  spoils  system,  happened  to  be  at 
hand  to  discharge  this  duty,  and  the  capitalists  entered 
into  a  coalition  with  him.  He  got  henceforth  their 
subscriptions  and  supplied  the  corporations  with  "pro- 
tection" on  easier  terms.     The  boss  centralized  political 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      97 

influence  in  his  own  hands,  and  made  himself  a  broker 
or  wholesale  dealer  in  it.  In  proportion  as  he  asserted 
himself  in  this  direction,  he  drove  the  ''lobby"  into  the 
background,  just  as  in  commerce  and  industry  the  small 
shopkeepers  or  manufacturers  retired  before  the  large 
stores  and  the  factory. 

Living  to  a  great  extent  on  the  corporations,  bossism 
burst  into  full  bloom  in  the  States  where  big  capitalist 
interests  were  concentrated,  where  companies  were 
most  numerous,  such  as  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania.  But  in  almost  all  other  places  where 
the  Machine  created  the  boss,  he  used  his  political 
position  as  a  business  man ;  he  appeared  as  a  Janus  with 
a  double  face,  as  a  political  dictator  and  as  a  broker  in 
legislation  and  administration,  or  at  all  events  a  dealer 
in  nominations. 

45.  The  advent  of  the  commercial  boss  sealed  the  No  longer 
moral  decomposition  of  the  parties.  It  indicated  ^^^^  parties, 
the  complete  elimination  of  political  principles  and 
ideas  from  their  existence/7  The  Democratic  party  was 
only  a  party  of  resistance  opposed  to  the  Republican 
party.  This  latter,  called  into  being  by  a  particular 
national  problem,  by  the  struggle  against  the  extension 
of  slavery,  had  accomplished  its  task.  But  it  was  bent 
only  on  keeping  itself  in  power,  by  substituting  for  its 
vanished  principles  an  unreasoning  discipline,  by  trying 
to  rekindle  the  dying  flame  of  the  conflict  with  the  South, 
by  combining  with  the  privileged  interests  of  the  manu- 
facturers, and  by  shirking  a  straightforward  attitude 
on  other  questions.  But  these  questions  thrust  them- 
selves on  the  parties  against  their  will,  and  bursting 
in  upon  them  sowed  discord  in  their  ranks.     Soon  there 


98 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Parties 
divided 
against 
themselves. 


was  no  question  at  all  on  which  the  respective  parties 
were  agreed  among  themselves.  The  Republicans  of 
the  manufacturing  East  were  interested  in  the  protec- 
tionist tariff ;  those  of  the  agricultural  West  did  not  care 
about  it ;  while  a  good  many  Democrats  in  the  East  and 
even  in  the  South  were  drawn  by  their  interests  towards 
Protection.  The  desire  to  obtain  "cheap  money"  by 
means  of  an  unlimited  paper  currency,  which  seized 
on  large  sections  of  the  population  throughout  the  Union, 
brought  dissension  into  the  Democratic  party  (the 
" greenbackers "  movement);  then,  when  this  desire 
took  shape  in  the  demand  for  free  silver,  it  made  fresh 
havoc  in  the  Democratic  party,  while  it  divided  the 
Republican  party,  sweeping  before  it  like  a  tornado  the 
Republican  States  of  the  West,  inhabited  by  farmers 
involved  in  debt  and  on  the  look-out  for  panaceas  which 
would  enable  them  to  repay  their  creditors,  the  capital- 
ists of  the  East,  with  as  little  coin  as  possible.  But  the 
parties  did  not  trouble  themselves  about  divisions 
within  their  own  ranks.  As  in  the  days  of  the  slavery 
conflict,  they  "agreed  to  disagree,"  in  order  not  to 
shatter  the  party  Organizations. 

Every  Congress,  beginning  with  the  Forty-third  (of 
the  years  1873-1875),  threw  into  stronger  relief  the 
moral  decomposition  of  the  parties;  very  often  there 
was  cross  voting  on  each  side.  Between  the  parties 
qua  parties  there  was  no  longer  any  fixed  line  of  de- 
marcation, and  to  recognize  them  it  was  necessary,  as 
has  been  remarked,  to  put  labels  on  their  members. 
Parties  and  members  shifted  their  position  with  regard 
to  the  questions  of  the  day  according  to  the  greater  or 
less  chances  of    capturing  the  popular  suffrage  with 


the  tariff; 


THE  EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      99 

this  or  that  attitude.     At  the  end  of  Cleveland's  first 
administration  a  realignment  of  the  parties  on  a  real 
issue  appeared  probable.     Declaring  war  against  Pro-  New  align- 
tection,  on  the  eve  of  the  general  election,  by  his  famous  ^^^\ 
message  of  1887,  Cleveland  forced  the  parties  to  fight  about 
on  this  question.     The  Democratic  party  lost  the  battle,  neither  by 
but  it  seemed  to  have  recovered  its  moral  unity.     It  did 
not  keep  it  for  long,  any  more  than  its  rival. 

Indeed,  in  a  short  time  the  situation  was  once  more 
complicated  by  the  preoccupations  arising  out  of  the 
silver  agitation  which  was  invading  both  parties. 
On  each  important  occasion  the  parties  in  Congress 
showed  themselves  divided  on  the  silver  problem.  In 
the  country  the  silver  agitation  continued  to  make  nor  by 
greater  and  greater  havoc  and  culminated  at  last  in  the 
crisis  of  1896.  The  decisive  struggle  was  approaching, 
and  the  leaders  of  the  parties  were  still  shilly-shallying. 
They  were  waiting  for  clearer  indications  as  to  which 
way  the  cat  would  jump.  At  last,  when  it  became 
evident  that  the  Democrats  were  going  over  en  masse 
into  the  silver  camp,  and  that  the  big  commercial  in- 
terests in  the  East,  on  which  the  Republican  party 
generally  leaned,  were  on  the  side  of  gold,  the  Republi- 
can candidate,  McKinley,  who  had  supported  the  silver 
men  in  Congress,  came  out  as  the  uncompromising 
champion  of  the  gold  standard.  The  Democratic 
party,  overrun  by  the  silverites,  was  left  shorn  of  its 
traditional  principles,  but  it  none  the  less  kept  its  old 
name  and  style,  the  saving  grace  of  which  decided  a  very 
large  proportion  of  its  adherents  to  vote  for  silver  irre- 
spective of  their  convictions.  No  real,  natural  regroup- 
ing of  parties  took  place  on  this  question. 


the  silver 
question; 


lOO 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


nor  by 
imperialism; 


nor  by  the 
economic 
and  social 
problem. 


Democratic 
party  com- 
pletely de- 
moralized. 


Nor  was  the  problem  of  "imperialism,"  propounded 
by  the  war  against  Spain,  and  which  deeply  divided 
the  public  mind,  able  to  bring  the  parties  into  line  again ; 
for  the  want  of  agreement  showed  itself  in  each  of  them. 

46.  Still  earlier  a  much  greater  conflict  had  begun 
to  gather  on  the  horizon,  a  social  conflict.  Heralded 
by  repeated  flashes  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  it  lit  up  the  political  sky  in  America 
with  an  ominous  glow  during  the  election  campaign  of 
1896.  It  was  not  only  the  battle  of  the  gold  standard 
against  the  white  metal;  it  was  also  the  first  great 
revolt  against  the  money  power  in  society  and  in  the 
state.  The  radical  elements  gathered  under  the  flag 
of  the  Democratic  party;  whereupon  the  conservative 
wing  forthwith  separated  itself  from  that  Organization. 
Defeated  in  1896  and  1900  the  Democratic  party  turned 
back  at  the  1904  election  towards  conservatism;  but 
the  Radicals  broke  away,  and  the  party  suffered  an 
even  heavier  defeat  than  before.  The  Radicals  then 
again  got  the  upper  hand,  but  only  to  demonstrate  once 
more,  at  the  election  of  1908,  the  continual  divisions 
and  defections  to  which  the  ill-assorted  party  was 
doomed.  It  possessed  but  one  stable  element:  the 
"Solid  South."  A  slave  to  "race"  prejudice,  the  Solid 
South  remained  as  before  the  tool  of  the  Democratic 
Organization,  whether  the  latter  hoisted  the  conserva- 
tive or  the  radical  banner.  Without  being  able  to  give 
victory,  the  South  only  emphasized  the  artificial  character 
of  the  conglomeration  called  the  Democratic  party. 

The  Republican  party  flattered  itself  on  more  unity, 
and,  from  the  fact  that  it  became  more  and  more  sub- 
servient to  private  economic  interests,  to  moneyed  men, 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CONVENTION  SYSTEM   lOI 

it  seemed  to  have  a  claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  conservative 
party,  capable  of  checking  the  subversive  radicalism 
which  was  mounting  to  the  surface  of  politics.  But  it 
was  not  allowed  to  retain  this  character,  however  little 
enviable.  An  anarchist  coup,  which  killed  McKinley, 
brought  to  the  Presidency  Roosevelt  who  did  his  ut- 
most to  clear  the  Republican  party  of  its  plutocratic 
stain.  Having  "stolen  the  thunder '^  of  the  radical 
Democrats  he  declared  war  on  the  Trusts  and  other 
economic  monopolies.  Acclaimed  by  the  country  and 
passing  above  party  lines  he  established  radicalism 
in  governmental  action  and  in  legislation,  made  it  re- 
spectable in  the  eyes  of  timorous  or  indifferent  opinion, 
and  yoked  to  his  car  in  spite  of  itself  the  Republican 
Organization,  nourished  though  it  was  by  the  plutocrats. 
The  last  vestige  of  difference  between  the  parties  Party  lines 
seemed  to  fade  away.  As  Jefferson  said  a  century  be-  o^^Jjerated 
fore:  "We  are  all  Republicans;  we  are  all  Federalists,"  yelt. 
one  could  say  now :  "  We  are  all  Radicals."  And  as  in 
Jefferson's  day  an  era  of  good  feelings  seemed  to  be 
dawning.  Both  the  radicalism,  which  seemed  to  sweep 
the  country,  and  the  good  feelings,  so  far  as  they  touched 
social  conflicts,  were  rather  superficial.  But,  thanks 
to  the  growing  prosperity  of  the  country,  there  grew 
up  in  everyday  political  life  an  easy-going  atmosphere 
long  unknown.  Party  struggles  lost  all  bitterness; 
party  passion,  which  had  been  in  constant  ebullition 
since  the  Civil  War,  cooled  down.  In  fact,  there  was 
only  one  party  left  standing  —  the  Roosevelt  party, 
the  Republican  party,  if  one  could  regard  the  two  as 
synonymous.  The  Democratic  opposition  in  Congress 
was  reduced  to  a  nullity.    The  traditional  system  of 


Q 


1 


I02  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

two  parties,  which  was  steadily  decaying,  did  not  work 
any  more.  President  Roosevelt,  whose  election  in 
1904  was  supported  by  a  great  number  of  Democratic 
votes,  sought  and  obtained  for  ''his  policies"  the  assist- 
ance of  Democrats  as  well  as  Republicans  and  hurled 
himself  against  reactionary  opposition  of  either  denomi- 
nation. The  elections  of  1908  brought  the  final  proof, 
if  such  were  needed,  of  the  definitive  decomposition  of 
parties.  Their  programmes  were  alike;  their  attitude 
during  the  electoral  campaign  differed  very  little;  the 
4  \.,  I  choice  was  no  longer  between  two  policies  but  between 
two  persons,  two  rival  candidates.  Their  supporters 
were  so  mixed  up  as  to  produce  in  the  electoral  body 
such  queer  classifications  as  "Taft  Democrats." 
Old  party  """^  The  two  great  parties  no  longer  respond  to  any 
Organiza-  reality  in  politics.  Survivals  of  an  earlier  age,  they 
served  all  ^^^^  clearly  destined  to  make  way  for  a  new  grouping 
the  same.  which  would  inevitably  arise,  as  was  said  on  all  sides, 
on  the  basis  of  economic  jud  social  divergencies.  This 
^  reclassing  is  awaited,  and  is  announced ;  but  it  is  slow 
to  emerge  and  probably  it  will  be  delayed  still  farther. 
It  stumbles  against  the  old  obstacle,  the  Organizations 
controlled  by  the  politicians.  The  life  has  gone  out  of 
the  parties;  what  matter,  the  Organizations  must  be 
kept  intact.  Roosevelt  himself,  who,  without  thinking 
of  it,  has  done  much  to  hasten  the  decomposition  of 
parties  in  recent  years,  has  done  his  utmost  to  uphold 
the  Republican  Organization.  The  "giant-killer"  of 
economic  privileges,  he  has  refrained  from  attacking 
the  one  which  is  justly  considered  the  source  of  all 
other  privileges,  the  Protectionist  Tariff :  he  was  afraid 
to  "split  the  party,"  which  was  allied  to  the  manufactur- 


THE   EVOLUTION  OF   THE   CONVENTION   SYSTEM      IO3  / 

Thus  for  thirty  years  there  has  lasted  under  slightly 
varying  aspects  a  situation  always  fundamentally  the 
same :  parties  scattered,  morally  decomposed,  and  im- 
able  to  hold  together  by  any  natural  affinities,  while  the 
old  Organizations  still  subsist,  reduced  to  the  state  of 
electoral  machines  for  manipulating  the  elections,  divid- 
ing the  electors  into  two  rival  camps  and  setting  them 
at  one  another  like  marionettes.  Incapable  of  giving 
vital  strength,  which  they  lack  themselves,  to  representa- 
tive government,  the  Organizations  continue  to  under- 
mine it,  setting  always  in  its  face  the  extra-constitu- 
tional government  which  we  know.  Its  pernicious 
effects  are  less  flagrant  than  they  were,  thanks  to  the 
serious  checks  put  to  the  spoils  system  and  to  the  other 
abuses  of  the  regime,  —  as  will  be  outlined  later,  —  but 
still  they  exist.  To  form  an  exact  estimate  of  them, 
both  in  the  present  and  in  the  past,  one  must  make  a 
detailed  study  of  the  mechanism  of  the  Organizations 
and  their  working. 


SIXTH  CHAPTER 

THE  LOCAL  ORGANIZATION 

The  (  47.   The  body  of  the  party  Organizations  contains 

primaries,  tj^g  following  three  essential  organs:  the  primary  as- 
sembly of  the  members  of  the  party  from  which  all  the 
powers  of  the  Organization  emanate ;  the  committee  of 
the  party,  which  is  the  controlling  power  within  it;  and 
the  conventions  of  the  delegates  who  choose  the  candi- 
dates for  elective  offices  on  behalf  of  the  party?) 

The  primary  assemblies  bear  the  name  of  "caucuses" 
in  New  England  and  in  certain  States  of  the  West,  and 
that  of  "primaries"  or  "primary  elections"  in  the  rest 
of  the  Union.  They  meet  in  each  city  ward  or  rural 
district,  at  tolerably  frequent  intervals,  to  make  direct 
choice  of  the  candidates  of  the  party  for  the  local 
offices,  but  especially  to  appoint  delegates  to  the  various 
party  conventions,  which  select  candidates  for  public 
functions  on  all  the  other  steps  of  the  hierarchical 
ladder.  In  a  few  large  cities  the  nucleus  of  the  organi- 
zation is  formed  by  the  followers  of  the  party  grouped 
into  associations,  or  permanent  clubs.  The  discre- 
tionary right  of  admission  or  exclusion  possessed  by 
these  associations,  or  clubs,  has  too  often  made  them 
close  bodies,  and  has  enabled  a  small  fraction  of  the 
party  to  assume  the  power  of  speaking  and  of  taking 
decisions  on  its  behalf,  in  New  York  especially.     In  the 

104 


THE   LOCAL  ORGANIZATION  105 

very  great  majority  of  cases,  the  organization  of  the 
party  is  started  in  the  primaries,  to  which  are  admitted 
the  electors  who  declare  that  they  have  voted  for  the 
candidate  of  the  party  at  the  last  election,  or  who,  in 
general,  profess  the  creed  of  the  party.  They  are' 
bound  to  make  good  these  declarations  in  case  they 
are  challenged.  The  meeting,  or  more  often  the  com- 
mittee, has  to  decide  the  point  hi  dispute. 

But  whether  the  admission  to  the  primaries  is  beset 
with  more  or  less  extensive  restrictions,  in  practice  the 
great  majority  of  the  voters  keep  away  from  these 
assemblies.  The  proportion  of  voters  who  take  part 
in  the  primaries  varies  from  one  to  ten  per  cent.  The 
rest  are  too  much  engrossed  in  their  business  or  their 
domestic  affairs  or  their  pleasures.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  cities;  in  the  country  districts  the  meeting 
of  the  primary  is  a  small  pastime,  which  attracts  people 
for  want  of  anything  better.  A  good  many  non-partici- 
pants are  greatly  encouraged  in  their  attitude,  if  not 
justified,  by  the  fact  that  the  primary  is  almost  invariably 
in  the  hands  of  a  coterie  of  politicians.  The  citizens  out- 
side the  clique  are  reduced  to  impotence,  while  the  poli- 
ticians who  manipulate  the  primary  form  a  compact 
group.  The  conditions  of  existence  in  the  large  cities, 
which  have  done  away  with  neighbourliness,  make  the 
respectable  citizens  strangers  to  one  another.  The 
lists  of  the  candidates  voted  on  are  settled  beforehand, 
behind  the  scenes,  by  a  few  politicians,  who  form  a 
*'Ring,"  and  "make  up  the  slate,"  as  is  said  in  their 
slang.  Probably  on  one  occasion  a  schoolboy's  slate 
had  been  used  for  noting  the  names  of  the  candidates 
to  be  proposed,  and  the  word  has  acquired  a  generic  sig- 


I06  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

nificance,  a  verb  even  being  formed  out  of  it,  ''  to  slate," 
to  be  "slated,"  which  means  to  be  chosen  as  a  candi- 
date by  the  politicians.  True,  every  citizen  is  entitled 
to  propose  candidates  of  his  own,  but  he  will  get  no 
support  in  the  meeting;  moreover,  the  delegates  to  be 
chosen  are  often  so  numerous  that  a  previous  under- 
standing is  absolutely  necessary. 
The  com-  48.   The  Stronghold  of  the  ruling  "Ring"  is  the  local 

mittees.  committee  of  the  party.  Each  political  subdivision, 
the  rural  town  or  the  city  ward,  or  even  the  precinct 
or  the  school  district,  has  its  committee,  appointed 
annually  at  the  primary  of  the  party.  Above  this  com- 
mittee there  are  the  ward  committee  in  the  cities, 
which  is  generally  composed  of  the  members  of  the 
precinct  committees,  and  the  county  committee,  which 
is  the  central  committee  for  all  the  cities  and  towns 
within  the  county,  or  the  city  committee  in  the  large 
cities  which  have  an  independent  central  organization. 
The  members  of  the  county  committee  and  of  the  city 
committee  are  chosen  by  the  committees  of  the  wards 
and  of  the  towns  or  by  the  respective  delegates  of  these 
territorial  units  to  the  county  convention.  In  some 
States  (in  Missouri,  for  example)  the  county  committees 
are  composed  entirely  ex  officio  of  chairmen  of  the 
township  or  ward  committees.  Thus  on  the  whole  the 
permanent  part  of  the  Organization  —  the  committees 
—  is  cast  in  a  centralizing  mold. 

The  local  committee,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
executive  organ,  in  reality  manipulates  the  whole 
Organization.  Generally  it  is  the  committee  which 
makes  up  the  slate,  which  convenes  the  primary,  which 
selects  the  date  and  place  of  the  meeting  to  suit  its 


THE   LOCAL   ORGANIZATION  107 

own  convenience,  which  settles  its  procedure,  which 
presides  over  the  assembly  until  the  officers  are  elected. 
Very  often  it  is  the  committee,  again,  which  appoints 
the  "inspectors  of  election,"  who  have  to  receive  and 
count  the  votes,  and  who  may  "count  out"  or  "count 
in"  a  particular  candidate.  Being  entrusted  with  the 
duty  of  keeping  the  roll  of  membership,  the  committee 
decides  beforehand  who  is  entitled  to  take  part  in  the 
primaries.  In  a  word,  all  the  business  of  the  primaries 
is  "cut  and  dried"  by  the  committee.  Once  in  power 
the  coterie  easily  keeps  there;  possessing  a  sort  of 
mortgage  over  each  future  primary,  the  committee  gets 
itself  reappointed  from  year  to  year. 

The  influence  of  the  county  committee  is  still  more 
excessive.  It  rules  over  the  local  Organizations  with 
powers  which  are  sometimes  despotic.  It  decides, 
without  appeal,  on  all  the  contests  which  arise  in  the 
Organization.  It  wields  disciplinary  powers  in  it:  it 
can  suspend,  or  even  turn  out,  the  officers  of  the  asso- 
ciations or  of  the  local  committees.  Nay  more,  it  can 
dissolve  a  whole  local  Organization,  when  it  encounters 
opposition  in  it,  or  refuse  to  recognize  it  as  the  "regu- 
lar" Organization. 

49.  To  have  their  own  way  in  the  primaries,  the  Stratagems 
politicians  have  devised  an  elaborate  system  of  tactics,  at  primaries. 
In  the  first  place,  everything  is  done  to  keep  away  the 
citizens  who  do  not  belong  to  the  dominant  clique. 
The  meeting  is  fixed  for  a  date  when  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  them  to  come,  —  for  instance,  during  the 
very  hot  months  when  most  of  the  well-to-do  citizens 
go  away  for  a  holiday.  The  hour  and  the  place  of 
meeting  are  generally  selected  with  the  same  object.     It 


Io8  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

is  held  in  an  out-of-the-way  place  or  in  an  unpleasant, 
if  not  dangerous,  neighbourhood,  where  a  respectable 
man  would  not  care  to  set  foot.  Very  often,  per- 
haps most  often,  the  primary  is  held  in  a  public-house, 
or  a  few  doors  off  one,  or  in  a  livery  stable,  or  in  a 
grocer's  back  shop.  To  make  good  one's  right  to  take 
part  in  the  primary,  it  is  even  necessary,  sometimes,  to 
use  one's  fists.  To  keep  away  opposition  the  politicians 
have  recourse  to  frauds  too,  which,  from  long  practice, 
have  been  reduced  to  a  system,  not  to  say  a  science. 
The  proper  notice  convening  the  primaries  is  published 
too  late  or  is  not  published  at  all,  so  that  the  initiated 
alone  are  informed  in  time.  To  secure  the  same  end, 
the  primaries  are  appointed  quite  unexpectedly,  before 
the  usual  date.  This  is  a  "snap"  primary.  The 
meeting  is  not  forestalled ;  it  is  advertised  early  enough, 
but  the  Ring  has  taken  care  to  fill  the  hall  with  people 
devoted  to  them  or  in  their  pay,  picked  up  in  the 
public-houses  or  at  the  street  crossings,  who  will 
swamp  all  opposition  by  their  numbers.  This  is  a 
"packed"  primary.  In  the  large  cities  there  are 
strolling  companies  of  voters,  who  travel  to  order  from 
'  one  ward  to  another.  Often  the  boss  of  the  opposite 
party  politely  lends  his  men  for  the  evening. 

If,  after  all,  the  opposition  is  still  too  numerous,  it  is 
reduced  by  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  presiding  officer 
assisted  by  the  coterie  of  the  Ring.  Debate  is  stifled, 
the  nominations  are  rushed,  and  the  slate  is  carried  by 
a  series  of  movements  regulated  with  the  precision  of  a 
military  parade.  There  may  be  a  vote  by  ballot,  but 
then  all  sorts  of  frauds  are  resorted  to  in  voting  and  in 
counting  the  votes.     The  lists  of  the  members  of  the 


THE   LOCAL  ORGANIZATION  IO9 

party  are  full  of  names  of  persons  who  are  not  electors 
in  the  locality,  who  are  dead,  or  who  have  never  existed. 
A  good  number  of  names  on  these  "padded  rolls"  are 
distributed  to  imported  hirelings  who  vote,  and  even 
several  times  over  under  different  names  ("re- 
peaters"). The  election  inspectors  imperturbably 
accept  all  the  voting-papers,  down  to  the  "pudding 
ballots"  containing  several  votes  on  very  thin  paper, 
wrapped  up  together,  and  then,  when  the  counting 
begins,  they  unroll  them,  and  enter  them,  one  by  one; 
often  they  put  a  certain  number  of  voting  papers,  with 
the  names  of  their  favourite  candidates,  into  the  ballot- 
box  beforehand  ("ballot-box  stufifing"),  or,  while  the 
votes  are  being  counted,  they  dexterously  conjure 
away  papers  bearing  the  names  of  their  opponents,  or 
drop  papers  containing  the  names  of  friends  out  of 
their  sleeve,  or  even  make  an  untrue  return  of  the 
figures  obtained  by  the  different  candidates. 

True,  an  appeal  lies  to  the  county  or  city  committee,  Used  with 
but  that  committee  hardly  ever  decides  against  the  impunity, 
manipulators  of  the  primaries,  for  it  is  composed  of 
their  political  friends  and  allies,  of  their  "own  cousins," 
as  a  boss  put  it.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  the  dis- 
satisfied parties  to  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands 
during  the  primary,  by  engaging  in  a  regular  fight, 
which  sometimes  ends  in  bloodshed.  The  intervention 
of  the  police  who  endeavour,  with  more  or  less  im- 
partiality, to  preserve  order  and  stop  brawls,  is  pretty 
frequent.  On  the  other  hand,  a  good  many  primaries 
pass  off  quite  calmly,  to  wit,  when  there  is  no  oppo- 
sition to  the  dominant  Ring  in  the  district.^ 

Opposition,  if  it  does  occur,  rarely  proceeds  from  the 


no 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


AfiFair  of 
"  ins  "  and 
"outs." 


Roosevelt's 
description 
of  a 
primary. 


good  citizens.  Generally,  the  attack  is  led  by  a  rival 
faction  of  the  politicians,  which  covets  the  places  to 
which  the  primaries  are  a  stepping-stone.  Of  the  two 
factions  the  one  which  wins  the  victory  in  the  primary, 
by  getting  its  lists  of  delegates  to  the  conventions  voted, 
will  have  every  prospect  of  being  recognized  as  the 
"regular"  one  entitled  to  the  rewards.  A  contested 
primary  is  therefore  an  afifair  between  the  office-holders 
and  office-seekers,  the  "ins"  and  the  "outs,"  which 
does  not  concern,  so  to  speak,  the  great  mass  of  the 
citizens.  The  latter  are  dragged  into  the  contest  in  a 
passive  way,  by  the  members  of  both  rings  of  poli- 
ticians, who  move  heaven  and  earth  to  get  as  many 
people  as  possible  to  vote  in  their  favour.  They  make 
use  of  every  kind  of  argument :  they  appeal  to  friend- 
ship, promise  favours  and  places,  or  even  resort  to 
direct  corruption  in  its  different  forms,  —  from  the  dis- 
tribution of  drinks  and  cigars  down  to  the  payment  of 
money. 

50.  President  Roosevelt  having  been  sent  in  1891, 
when  a  Civil  Service  Commissioner,  to  Baltimore  to 
make  an  enquiry  into  the  breaches  of  the  law  of  1883 
relating  to  political  assessments,  has  drawn  from  life  an 
interesting  picture  of  the  primaries  which  he  attended 
there  in  person :  — 


The  primaries,  he  wrote  in  his  official  report,  were  marked  by 
a  very  bitter  contest  between  two  factions  of  the  Republican 
party.  ...  In  its  essence  it  was,  without  doubt,  mainly  a  fight 
between  the  ofiice-holders  on  one  side  and  the  disappointed 
office-seekers  on  the  other.  ...  As  far  as  I  could  find  out  from 
the  witnesses,  there  seemed  to  be  no  question  of  principle  at  stake 
at  all,  but  one  of  offices  merely.  .  .  .     Seemingly,  many  of  them 


THE   LOCAL  ORGANIZATION  III 

regarded  victory  in  the  primaries  as  of  more  importance  than 
victory  at  the  polls,  because  the  former  gave  the  control  of  the 
party  machinery,  and  would  therefore,  in  their  own  language, 
entitle  them  to  "recognition"  in  the  distribution  of  patronage. 

As  a  whole  the  contest  was  marked  by  great  fraud  and  no 
little  violence.  Many  of  the  witnesses  of  each  faction  testified 
that  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  faction  in  their  ward  had  voted 
repeaters.  Democrats,  and  men  living  outside  of  the  ward  in  great 
numbers,  and  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  in  this  respect  there 
is  much  reason  to  regard  the  testimony  of  each  side  as  correct  in 
its  outline  of  the  conduct  of  the  other.  Accusations  of  ballot- 
box  stuffing  were  freely  made,  with  much  appearance  of  justifi- 
cation. A  number  of  fights  took  place.  In  many  wards  there 
were  several  arrests;  in  one  or  two  cases  so  many  men  were 
arrested  that  the  police  patrol  wagons  could  not  accommodate 
them.  In  several  cases  the  judges  of  the  election  were  them- 
selves among  those  arrested.  Much  complaint  was  made  in  cer- 
tain wards  of  one  side  or  the  other  being  "in"  with  the  police, 
who  would  accordingly  arrest  and  drag  out  of  the  line  voters  of 
the  opposition  faction,  and  would  decline  to  do  so  in  the  case  of 
voters  of  the  protected  faction.  In  many  of  the  wards  furniture 
wagons  were  hired  to  bring  voters  up  to  the  polls.  The  ward 
workers  stood  about  shouting,  challenging,  occasionally  fighting, 
seeing  that  the  ticket  holders  peddled  their  tickets  actively,  keep- 
ing the  furniture  wagons  sharply  on  the  move,  taking  doubting 
or  wavering  voters  into  the  saloons  and  treating  them  to  beer. 

In  some  wards  the  use  of  the  so-called  "pudding"  tickets  seems 
to  have  been  quite  common.  .  .  .  There  was  considerable  com- 
plaint of  bribery;  in  some  cases  votes  were  said  to  have  been 
bought  for  money;  in  others,  the  charge  was  that  outsiders,  not 
Republicans,  possibly  not  residents  of  the  ward,  had  been  ofifered 
drinks  to  participate  in  the  primary.  Most  of  the  witnesses  spoke 
of  the  cheating  in  a  matter-of-course  way,  as  being  too  universal 
and  too  common  in  primaries  generally  to  be  worthy  of  notice, 
and  a  great  number  of  them  did  not  seem  to  bear  any  special 
malice  against  their  opponents  for  having  cheated  successfully, 
—  if  anything,  rather  admiring  them  for  their  shrewdness,  —  and 
frankly  testified  that  it  was  only  lack  of  opportunity  that  had 


of  the 
opposition 


112  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

hindered  them  from  doing  as  much  themselves.  Two  of  the 
witnesses,  employes  of  the  custom  house,  testified  with  refreshing 
and  cheerful  frankness  to  this  effect.  One  of  them  remarked, 
anent  fixing  up  "pudding"  tickets:  "I  would  have  done  the 
same  thing  myself;  I  believe  in  doing  anything  to  win."  .  .  . 
The  testimony  of  the  other  ran  as  follows:  "I  don't  say  I  wouldn't 
cheat  in  the  primaries.  Whoever  gets  two  judges,  wins." 
Q.  "Each  side  cheats  as  much  as  it  can?" — A.  "Certainly, 
that's  the  way;  I  do  it  just  the  same  as  they  do.  They  had  two 
judges."  Q.  "How  do  you  do  your  cheating?"  —  A.  "Well, 
we  do  our  cheating  honourably.  If  they  catch  us  at  it,  it's  all 
right;  it's  fair." 

The  ways  ^j.   However  great  the  scandals  which  enable  one  of 

the  two  factions  to  carry  the  primary,  it  is  generally 
left  in  undisputed  possession,  and  the  opposition  has 
but  one  resource:  to  split,  to  "bolt."  It  separates 
from  the  "regular"  faction,  threatening  to  fight  it  at 
the  polls.  Sometimes  it  goes  farther,  and  convenes  a 
primary  composed  of  its  own  adherents,  and  selects  a 
rival  set  of  delegates,  claiming  for  itself  and  for  them 
the  party  orthodoxy  and  denouncing  the  rival  faction 
as  a  usurper.  But  all  these  manifestations  are  almost 
always  devoid  of  effect,  and  often  even  of  sincerity. 
The  delegates  chosen  in  the  dissentient  primary  may 
come  to  the  convention,  but  they  will  not  be  allowed 
to  sit;  the  "regular"  delegates  will  always  be  admitted, 
even  if  they  have  been  elected  by  a  minority  of  the 
party.  The  dissentients  will  be  obliged  to  submit,  they 
will  not  go  so  far  as  a  real  "bolt,"  for  that  is  equivalent 
to  burning  one's  ships,  to  cutting  oneself  off  wantonly 
from  communion  with  the  party  and  its  earthly  rewards. 
The  uncompromising  attitude  of  the  dissentients  is 
often  only  a  manoeuvre:  "they  talk  big  things"  with  a 


THE   LOCAL  ORGANIZATION  II3 

view  to  "recognition,"  to  induce  the  victorious  faction 
to  promise  them  a  share  of  the  booty. 

It  does  happen  that  the  primaries  are  conducted 
fairly,  without  frauds  or  stratagems;  but  this  is  rather 
the  exception.  In  certain  cities  there  have  not  been 
honest  primaries  within  living  memory.  In  the  East, 
the  cities  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore 
hold  the  record  for  fraudulent  primaries.  The  West 
is  not  much  better  off  than  the  East;  even  the  rudi- 
mentary States  of  the  Pacific  slope  are  afflicted  with  the 
same  complaint. 

In  the  rural  districts  the  state  of  things  is  far  better.  Primaries 
The  primaries  are  fairer  and  more  numerously  attended.   "1  ["/^ 

^  •'  districts. 

It  is  more  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  commit  most 
of  the  frauds  which  characterize  these  meetings  in  the 
cities,  such  as  voting  repeaters  or  by  persons  who  are 
strangers  to  the  locality  and  to  the  party:  the  people 
know  each  other  well.  Nevertheless,  the  rival  factions 
do  not  scruple  to  resort  to  tricks  of  a  bucolic  ingenuity 
to  monopolize  the  primaries.  In  order  to  hold  the 
primary  without  opposition,  the  chairman,  having  put 
his  watch  on,  hurriedly  opens  the  sitting  and  despatches 
the  list  of  business  with  lightning  speed,  and  then, 
when  the  other  people  arrive  at  the  real  time,  the  v 
primary  is  over;  they  protest,  the  chairman  pulls  out 
his  watch,  the  protesters  do  the  same,  the  watches 
are  compared,  but  the  vote  cannot  be  upset.  How- 
ever, even  in  the  rural  districts,  less  innocent  frauds 
are  resorted  to;  sometimes  the  practices  indulged 
in  by  the  manipulators  of  the  primaries  in  the  cities 
are  followed  more  closely.  I  have  been  told  of  country 
primaries  where  the  expense  ran  as  high  as  $12,000; 


114 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


The  choices 
of  the 
primaries. 


'Power 
of  the 
primaries. 


voters  have  been  brought  down  in  special  trains  and 
money  and  liquor  freely  offered. 

The  selections  of  delegates  made  in  the  primaries 
are  not  always  so  bad  as  might  be  expected  from  the 
practices  which  are  in  vogue  in  them.  Among  the 
elected  are  to  be  found  respectable  persons  who  hold 
aloof  from  the  primaries,  and  are  not  aware  of  the 
means  by  which  they  have  been  returned.  The  poli- 
ticians place  them  at  the  top  of  their  lists  to  get 
the  other  less  acceptable  candidates  through  more 
easily.  They  serve  as  a  flag  to  cover  the  merchandise 
of  the  politicians.  Occasionally  the  latter  abstain  from 
selecting  men  of  their  own  making  in  order  not  to  raise 
respectable  opinion,  if  it  is  very  strong  in  the  district, 
against  them  on  the  day  of  election ;  the  better  element 
in  the  electorate  thus  acts  as  a  check  on  the  politicians 
of  the  primaries,  but  —  and  this  point  cannot  be  too 
strongly  insisted  on  —  in  an  altogether  relative  degree, 
and  more  often  hardly  at  all. 

52.  The  power  which  the  primaries  wield  runs 
through  the  whole  line.  They  determine  the  character 
and  the  acts  of  all  the  conventions  which  succeed  one 
another,  for  all  emanate  from  the  primary  as  from 
a  source.  They  determine  the  nominations  to  all 
public  offices,  from  the  most  humble  ones  up  to 
that  of  President  of  the  Republic.  And  these  nomi- 
nations again  decide  the  election,  by  the  intrinsic  force 
of  party  loyalty:  confronted  with  the  alternative  of 
going  over  to  the  enemy  or  of  voting  for  the  candidate 
recommended  by  the  Organization  of  his  party,  the 
voter  submits  to  the  ticket  which  it  has  settled.  In 
places  where  the  party  is  in  a  majority,  nomination 


THE   LOCAL  ORGANIZATION  Il5 

indeed  is  equivalent  to  election.  Consequently  all 
those  who  aspire  to  public  offices,  or  who  deal  in  them, 
or  who  want  to  exploit  the  influence  which  they  carry 
with  them  in  executive  or  legislative  spheres,  have  their 
eyes  turned  towards  the  primaries :  the  politicians  start 
by  ensconcing  and  fortifying  themselves  in  the  primary ; 
it  is  their  base  of  operations  and  their  citadel.  The 
power  of  the  boss  over  the  Machine  consists,  above  all, 
in  the  power  of  managing  the  primaries ;  if  he  is  master 
of  them  he  holds  the  conventions  in  the  hollow  of  his 
hand,  and  if  he  can  make  his  will  prevail  in  the  con- 
ventions he  will  drag  the  majority  of  the  party  after 
him.  The  candidate  who  wants  to  be  adopted  by  a 
convention,  however  high  it  may  be,  must,  to  succeed, 
first  make  sure  of  the  delegates  chosen  in  the  primaries ; 
it  is  therefore  the  primaries  that  he  "works"  by  in- 
trigue and  corruption,  if  the  Machine  does  not  do  it  for 
him.  It  is  also  in  the  primaries  and  by  .the  same 
means  that  not  unfrequently  operations  are  begun  by 
the  business  men  and  the  jobbers  who  are  on  the  look- 
out for  contracts  and  public  works;  the  work  of  the 
"lobby"  is  carried  on,  or  begun,  in  the  primaries. 
In  short,  the  entire  representative  regime  on  which 
the  political  life  of  America  rests,  both  in  the  parties 
and  in  the  State,  is  shaped  by  the  primaries,  and  yet 
those  primaries,  as  we  have  just  realized,  are  mostly 
but  a  fraud  and  a  farce. 

This  state  of  things  did  not  fail  to  attract  public  Search  for 
attention  at  an  early  stage.     The  good  citizens  who  ^^emedies. 
abandoned  the  primaries  to  the  politicians  were  adjured 
to  attend  these  meetings  regularly;    but  the  appeal 
proved  inefifective,  and  by  dint  of  continual  solemn 


Il6  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

repetition  the  injunction  "attend  the  primaries"  became 
a  joke.  Various  more  or  less  ingenious  schemes  were 
mooted  for  reforming  the  primaries.  At  last  the  legis- 
lature was  called  in  to  defeat  the  craft  and  guile  of  the 
politicians.  A  whole  series  of  legislative  measures 
has  been  enacted  in  several  States  of  the  Union. 
They  will  be  examined  in  detail  in  a  subsequent  chap- 
ter. In  the  meantime  a  very  brief  sketch  may  suffice. 
The  legislature  was  at  first  loath  to  intervene  in  the 
life  of  the  political  parties  by  imperative  behests,  but 
contented  itself  at  the  beginning  with  recommending 
them,  in  some  States,  to  submit  to  a  regulation  of  the 
conduct  of  the  primaries,  more  or  less  similar  to  that 
which  obtains  for  the  elections.  It  hardly  made  up 
its  mind,  in  a  few  States,  to  penalize  the  acts  of  fraud 
and  bribery  committed  at  the  primaries.  For  the. rest 
the  parties  remained  free  to  do  as  they  pleased.  The 
result  of  the  optional  regulation  was  nil,  while  the 
abuses  at  the  primaries  continually  increased  and  cried 
for  remedy.  A  great  agitation  was  then  raised  through- 
out the  country  to  bring  about  a  complete  legalization 
of  the  primaries.  This  agitation  led  to  the  enactment 
in  most  of  the  States  of  laws  subjecting  the  primaries 
to  a  legal  regulation  no  longer  optional  but  mandatory. 
The  law  defines  the  manner  in  which  the  primaries  are 
to  be  convened,  the  procedure  to  be  followed  there, 
the  way  of  vote  taking,  the  constitution  of  the  com- 
mittees, etc.  The  primaries  have  thus  been  trans- 
formed into  a  wheel  of  the  mechanism  of  the  State. 
The  effect  on  the  manners  of  the  primaries  was  bene- 
ficial; very  frequently,  if  not  in  all  cases,  their  habitual 
abuses  became  less  glaring.    But  they  are  far  from  being 


THE   LOCAL   ORGANIZATION  II7 

extinguished,  the  politicians  have  not  been  ousted  at 
all,  but  rather  the  reverse,  as  we  shall  see  later  on. 

The  fruit  of  the  primaries  —  the  conventions  ema- 
nating from  them  and  their  choice  of  candidates  to 
offices  —  remaining  almost  as  bitter  as  before,  people 
hit  on  the  idea  of  doing  away  with  the  conventions 
altogether  by  law.  In  many  States  a  new  set  of  laws 
was  enacted  which  substituted  for  the  representative 
system  in  the  party  Organizations  a  direct  system. 
These  laws  established  direct  primaries  in  which  the  ad- 
herents of  a  party,  duly  qualified,  nominate,  in  legal 
form,  the  candidates  of  their  party  for  most  of  the 
elective  offices  in  the  county  and  even  in  the  State.  In 
some  places,  and  especially  in  the  South,  direct  nomi- 
nations, without  the  medium  of  conventions,  have  been 
already  adopted  spontaneously  by  the  parties  them- 
selves, without  however  applying  to  territorial  areas 
larger  than  the  county  (except  in  one  State).  But 
the  legalized  and  State-wide  mode  of  direct  nomina- 
tions of  party  candidates  is  quite  recent  and  is  still 
in  the  experimental  stage.  The  results  which  this 
method  seems  to  bring  about  or  which  it  promises  to 
secure  will  be  farther  examined.  Anyway,  the  old 
extra-legal  system  obtains  still  in  more  than  a  half  of 
the  States,  and  in  those  very  States  in  which  the  law 
has  instituted  direct  primaries  the  nomination  for  some 
elective  offices,  such  as  Presidential  electors  or  delegates 
to  national  conventions,  are  still  made  by  conventions 
of  delegates.  We  have  therefore  to  proceed  to  consider 
them  in  their  turn. 


SEVENTH   CHAPTER 


THE  CONVENTIONS 


Conven-  53.   The  Convention  system   is   extremely   compli- 

tion  system,  (.g^^-g^j  aj^(^^  3^^  £j-st  sight,  even  somewhat  confused. 
The  first  complication  comes  from  the  federative  sys- 
tem of  the  American  Government,  with  its  double  set 
of  parallel  functions  in  the  State  and  in  the  Union.  A 
State  sends  to  Congress  ten  5r  twenty  representatives, 
and  a  hundred  or  a  couple  of  hundred  members  to  the 
'  legislative  assembly  of  the  State,  and  consequently  it  is 

divided,  with  a  view  to  the  Federal  elections,  into  ten 
or  twenty  districts,  and  into  one  hundred  or  two  hun- 
dred for  the  legislative  elections  of  the  State.  The 
delegates  of  the  party  in  one  of  these  last  districts  can- 
not, therefore,  choose  the  candidate  for  a  congressional 
district,  or  vice  versa,  without  infringing  the  representa- 
*  tive  principle.    "Hence  the  necessity  of  holding  two 

conventions  of  delegates:  the  one  composed  of  dele- 
gates from  all  the  primaries  of  the  congressional  district 
which  will  select  the  candidate  for  Congress ;  and  the 
other  containing  delegates  from  the  primaries  of  the 
much  smaller  district  which  has  to 'return  a  member 
to  the  local  legislative  assembly. 

The  same  applies  to  the  other  offices  which  are 
filled  up  by  election:  the  judiciary  and  the  principal 
executive  offices,  not  to  mention  those  connected  with 

118 


THE   CONVENTIONS  IIQ 

local  self-government,  the  municipal  offices  and  others. 
Consequently,  each  public  office  to  which  a  particular 
territorial  subdivision  is  assigned  requires  a  special  con- 
vention of  delegates  to  settle  the  candidature  on  behalf 
of  the  respective  party.  If  many  offices  in  the  same 
electoral  unit  have  to  be  filled  up,  for  instance  those 
of  the  State,  —  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  State 
Secretary,  State  Treasurer,  Attorney- General,  judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  etc.,  —  the  selection  of  the  candi- 
dates is  made  in  a  single  convention,  called  the 
*' State  convention."  It  is  the  same  with. county  or 
city  offices,  which,  very  often  but  not  always,  are  dealt 
with  in  a  single  "county  convention"  or  "city  conven- 
tion." The  principal  conventions,  apart  from  those 
of  the  State  and  of  the  county  or  of  the  city,  not  to 
mention  the  national,  are  as  follows:  the  legislative 
assembly  district  conventions,  for  selecting  the  candi- 
date for  the  State  legislative  assembly;  the  senatorial 
district,  for  choosing  the  candidate  for  the  Senate  of 
the  State;  the  congressional  district,  for  selecting  the 
candidate  for  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Wash- 
ington ;  and  the  judicial  conventions. 

Among  the  conventions,  some  proceed  from  the 
primaries  by  direct  election,  other  by  elections  at  two 
or  even  three  degrees,  to  wit,  the  State  conventions, 
whose  members  are  generally  elected  by  the  conven- 
tions of  legislative  districts ;  ^  and  the  national  conven- 
tions, which  issue,  in  part  at  least,  as  we  shall  see, 
from  tlie  State  conventions.     As  the  national  conven- 

*  In  these  States,  however,  where  direct  primaries  have  been  estab- 
lished, the  delegates  to  the  State  conventions  are  chosen  at  the  pri- 
maries by  the  party  members  themselves. 


I20 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Character 
of  the 
delegates. 


tions  will  be  dealt  with  in  a  special  chapter,  the  de- 
scription given  in  the  following  pages  will  refer  solely 
to  the  lower  conventions. 

The  number  of  the  delegates  to  the  several  conven- 
tions is  not  a  fixed  one ;  it  is  determined  by  the  respec- 
tive county,  city,  or  State  committee,  according  to  the 
number  of  votes  polled  in  each  locality  by  the  candi- 
dates of  the  party  at  the  last  presidential  election,  and 
still  more  often  at  that  for  the  State  Governor.  Some- 
times the  number  of  delegates  in  State  conventions  is 
twice  the  representation  in  both  houses  of  the  Legis- 
lature or  it  is  rated  according  to  some  other  fixed 
standard.  The  totals  of  membership  of  the  conven- 
tions vary  indefinitely  with  the  conventions  and  the 
States;  some  are  composed  of  a  few  dozen  members, 
while  others  have  several  hundred  or  more  than  a 
thousand,  and  occasionally  even  as  many  as  two  thou- 
sand members.  Each  delegate  is  given  a  deputy 
("alternate"),  to  take  his  place  if  he  is  prevented  from 
attending. 

54.  The  composition  of  the  conventions  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  social  char- 
acter of  their  members,  is  a  somewhat  motley  one,  for 
although  they  are  managed  by  professional  politicians, 
they  are  not  recruited  exclusively  from  their  ranks. 
No  doubt,  a  considerable  proportion  of  each  conven- 
tion consists  of  office-seekers  or  office-holders,  and,  in 
general,  of  mercenary  politicians.  The  convention  is 
for  them  a  sort  of  stock  exchange,  where  they  sell  fed 
buy  political  influence,  payable  in  places  or  money,  or, 
at  all  events,  get  to  know  each  other,  and  form  con- 
nections which  they  will  turn  to  account  later  on.     In 


THE   CONVENTIONS  121 

the  same  category  of  delegates  are  often  found  persons 
who  are  simply  agents  for  big  private  concerns,  for 
railroad  companies,  and  other  corporations  which  want 
to  introduce  their  garrisons  into  the  political  fortresses. 
Other  delegates,   without  being  professionals,   derive 
gratifications  of  amour-propre  from  the  ephemeral  posi- 
tion of  delegate,  were  it  only,  perhaps,  the  extremely 
modest  one  of  seeing  their  names  appear  in  the  local 
paper.     Along  with  these  small  folk  full  of  petty  vanity, 
are  found  persons  of  higher  rank  in  the  social  scale, 
well-to-do,  and  perfectly  respectable,  who  are  not  above 
the  homage  paid  to  notoriety,  and  who  accept  and 
court' it  all  the  more  readily  that  they  think  they  are 
performing  a  duty  in  so  doing.     Finally,  there  is  a 
category  of  obscure,  humble  delegates,  free  from  the 
cant   of   these   respectable   personages,    and  sincerely 
desirous  of  discharging  their  task  for  the  public  good. 
The  distribution  of  these  different  categories  among 
the  conventions  is  a  very  unequal  one.     In  a  general 
way  it  may  be   said   that   the   least   reputable   con- 
ventions are  the  city  conventions,  which  often  exhibit 
a   collection    of    political    bandits,    of    rogues.       In 
th6  country  districts  where  there  are  no  large  cities, 
the  county  conventions  keep  up  to  a  very  fair  moral 
and   social   standard.     The  best   are   the   State  con- 
ventions, in  which  are  often  to  be  found  many  very 
respectable  citizens.     On  the  whole  the  personnel  of 
the  conventions  cannot  pretend  to  reflect  public  opinion. 
The  enlightened  section  of  the  community  is  outside 
the  regular  parties,  or  is  only  connected  with  them  in 
a  nominal -way.     The  representative  pretensions  of  the 
conventions  with  regard  to  the  opinion  of  the  parties 


122  DEMOCRACY   AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

are  more  justified,  but  can  only  be  admitted  with 
qualification,  for  even  among  the  trusty  adherents  of 
the  parties  a  certain  number  never  come  in  contact 
with  the  Organizations. 
Procedure  55-  The  defect  of  the  inadequately  representative 
in  conven-  character  of  the  conventions  is  again  aggravated  by  the 
procedure  and  by  the  habits  which  obtain  in  these  as- 
semblies. The  convention  is  opened  and  conducted 
till  its  permanent  organization  is  chosen  by  a  person 
specially  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  committee 
of  the  party.  The  powers  of  this  "  temporary  chairman  " 
are  immense;  it  is  he  who  really  decides  or  prejudges 
the  cases  of  contested  credentials,  for  he  selects  the  'com- 
mittee on  credentials,  which  can  with  impunity  unseat 
delegates  duly  elected.  The  adherents  of  the  Ma- 
chine who  have  been  defeated  in  the  primary  start  a 
sham  contest,  claiming  to  have  been  duly  elected;  or 
they  go  so  far  as  to  *'bolt,"  to  hold  anew  primary  and 
choose  their  delegates.  The  temporary  chairman,  if 
friendly  to  them,  allows  them  all  to  take  their  seats, 
leaving  their  rivals,  the  real  delegates,  to  bring  their  case 
before  the  committee  on  credentials;  this  committee, 
after  a  sham  investigation,  decides  against  them.  The 
convention  in  which  the  pretended  delegates,  admitted 
provisionally  on  prima  facie  evidence,  have  a  majority, 
forthwith  ratifies  the  proposals  of  the  committee,  and 
the  Machine  and  its  candidates  remain  masters  of  the 
position.  It  is  therefore  an  axiom  that  "  the  temporary 
chairman  is  the  convention,"  After  the  report  on  the 
contested  seats  and  other  reports,  if  need  be,  have  been 
adopted,  the  convention  proceeds  to  its  proper  work, 
which  is  the  choice  of  the  candidates  for  election.     As 


THE   CONVENTIONS  1 23 

soon  as  the  voting  is  over  and  the  "  ticket"  is  settled,  the 
convention  adjourns  sine  die. 

In  the  higher  conventions,  especially  in  the  State  con- 
ventions, the  programme  is  far  more  elaborate  and  more 
decorative.  The  sitting  is  opened  with  prayers  read 
by  a  clergyman.  The  temporary  chairman  appoints, 
on  motions  brought  in  by  different  members,  in  addition 
to  the  committee  on  credentials,  a  committee  on  per- 
manent organization,  which  will  propose  the  permanent 
officers,  and  a  committee  on  resolutions,  which  will  draw 
up  the  programme  of  the  party  with  declarations  on  the 
questions  of  the  day.  The  resolutions  are  generally 
adopted  without  amendment  or  discussion.  Often 
some  further  proposals  and  motions  are  submitted  or 
speeches  are  delivered,  but  these  are  all  in  the  nature  of 
interludes.  It  rarely  happens  that  such  manifestations 
of  opinion  are  of  real  consequence.  As  soon  as  the 
preliminary  proceedings  are  brought  to  an  end,  the 
permanent  officers  are  appointed.  The  president  is 
generally  an  influential  personage  in  the  party ;  he  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  long  array  of  honorary  vice-presidents  and 
honorary  secretaries,  whose  titles  are  a  means  of  recog- 
nizing faithful  party  service.  In  taking  the  chair,  the 
president  produces  a  long  speech,  prepared  beforehand, 
which,  in  more  or  less  high-flown  language,  glorifies 
the  party,  recalls  its  achievements  in  the  past,  its  "  im- 
mortal principles,"  and  vigorously  attacks  and  anathe- 
matizes the  rival  party.  The  candidates  are  proposed 
by  delegates  of  note  in  eulogistic,  and  more  or  less 
lengthy,  speeches,  which  however  will  have  very  little 
to  do  with  the  success  of  the  aspirants  to  the  nomina- 
tions.    The  choice  of  the  latter  as  a  matter  of  fact  has 


of  the 
conventions. 


124  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

more  often  than  not  been  already  settled  in  the  prima- 
ries, where  the  decisive  battle  is  fought  by  the  rival 
candidates,  with  the  result  that  the  man  who  has  "got 
the  delegates"  will  carry  the  vote  of  the  convention. 
After  the  proclamation  of  the  result,  the  friends  of  the 
defeated  candidate  move  to  make  the  nomination  of 
the  winner  unanimous  —  a  proposal  which  is  carried 
amid  deafening  applause. 
Manners  56.    In  places  where  the  Machine  is  absolute  master 

of  the  situation  the  whole  thing  goes  like  clockwork, 
every  point  has  been  "  cut  and  dried,"  and  the  conven- 
tion presents  the  spectacle,  which  rejoices  the  heart  of 
the  party  managers,  of  a  "  harmonious  "  convention.  If 
the  convention  is  not  ''harmonious,"  the  proceedings  are 
made  as  lively  as  in  the  primaries  by  the  rival  factions, 
even  to  the  ''fights"  which  call  for  the  intervention  of 
the  police.  The  convention  often  happens  to  be  split  up 
into  several  groups,  each  of  them  perhaps  having  its 
favourite  candidate,  and  none  of  them  strong  enough 
to  compel  the  others  to  follow  it.  Then  to  get  the 
delegates,  diplomacy  has  to  be  resorted  to  under  differ- 
ent aspects  down  to  direct  bribery.  And  after  all  that 
an  understanding  is  often  extremely  difficult  to  arrive 
at,  each  rival  group  sticking  to  its  candidates.  There- 
upon one  ballot  succeeds  another  without  result;  no 
candidate  has  a  majority.  It  is  a  deadlock.  Some- 
times this  lasts  for  days,  and  the  number  of  ballots  which 
have  been  taken  reaches  unheard-of  figures,  especially 
in  the  small  conventions,  where  at  first  sight  it  would 
appear  easier  to  come  to  terms. 

The  work  of  "  getting  the  delegates  "  inaugurated  at 
the  primaries  is  resumed  several  weeks  before  the  con- 


THE   CONVENTIONS  1 25 

vention;  the  delegates  are  pestered  on  all  sides,  they 
are  approached  with  flattery,  with  civility,  with  promises 
of  places,  or  of  money,  or  of  favours  of  various  kinds ; 
every  argument  is  brought  to  bear.  The  last,  and  often 
the  main  assault,  is  delivered  at  the  convention  itself. 
The  managers  of  the  different  candidates  open  their 
"head-quarters"  in  the  hotels  of  the  city  in  which  the 
convention  is  being  held,  whence  they  direct  the  attack, 
and  where  they  entertain  the  delegates  and  persons  capa- 
ble of  influencing  them.  On  the  eve  of  the  convention 
a  party  is  given  them.  The  delegates  are  not  insensible 
to  these  marks  of  attention ;  but  the  wary  ones  require 
something  more  positive.  The  favourite  plan  consists 
of  "deals,"  bargains  between  the  representatives  of  the 
various  groups  of  delegates,  who  divide  the  candidatures 
between  them  and  the  offices  which  will  be  the  spoils 
of  the  victors.  A  more  or  less  considerable  number 
of  delegates  remain  outside  these  bargains,  —  they  are 
the  respectable  delegates  of  various  grades  and  catego- 
ries ;  generally  their  honesty  of  itself  delivers  them  into 
the  hands  of  the  politicians.  When  confronted  with 
professionals  skilled  in  all  the  arts  of  their  trade  they 
fall  an  easy  prey  to  them.  This  is  especially  the  case 
with  the  rural  delegates. 

57.  What  is  the  character  of  the  candidates  turned  Character 
out  by  the  conventions  which  we  have  just  seen  at  work  ?  °^  ^^^ 
It  differs  a  great  deal,  according  to  the  several  kinds  of 
conventions.  The  lower-grade  conventions,  that  is  to 
say,  those  which  provide  for  the  less  important  elective 
offices,  as  a  rule  produce  candidates  who  are  decidedly 
bad,  from  the  standpoint  of  morality  and  intelligence. 
The  nominations  go  to  the  "workers"  of  the  Organiza- 


126  DEMOCRACY   AND  THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

tion,  and,  in  general,  to  the  politicians  of  low  degree,  in 
return  for  their  services,  or  in  recognition  of  the  position 
which  they  have  won  in  the  caucuses  and  the  committees. 
This  applies,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  candidates  for  the 
local  offices  in  the  cities,  and  pretty  often  in  the  counties. 
The  legislative  candidatures  are,  considering  their  im- 
portance for  the  political  life  of  the  country,  the  least 
satisfactory.  The  candidates  for  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives at  Washington  are,  for  the  most  part,  far  from 
being  superior  men.  As  for  those  who  get  the  nomina- 
tions for  the  State  legislatures,  they  leave  still  more  to 
be  desired.  Not  unfrequently  their  morality  is  anything 
but  high,  though  in  some  States  a  change  for  the  better 
has-been  noticeable  in  these  last  years.  The  conven- 
tions of  rural  legislative  districts,  being  made  up  of  a 
better  class  of  men,  are  more  strict  in  their  choice,  but 
in  the  large  cities  the  selections  are  deplorable  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases,  although,  again,  the  best  rep- 
resentatives also  come  from  the  cities. 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  candidates  for  conspicuous 
offices,  the  holders  of  which  are  always  under  the  public 
eye,  such  as  the  mayor,  the  State  governor,  the  treas- 
urer, and  other  high  State  officials,  the  judges  of  the 
superior  courts.  The  conventions,  in  particular  the 
State  conventions,  take  care  to  select  for  those  offices 
decent  candidates,  so  as  not  to  run  counter  to  public 
opinion  and  expose  the  Organization  of  the  party  to  a 
revolt,  and  perhaps  to  a  defeat.  Sometimes  even  the 
nominations  hit  upon  persons  out  of  the  common  run. 

But  most  of  the  decent  candidates  are  afflicted  with 
an  inherent  defect,  i.e.  their  weakness  of  character,  their 
lack  of  energy  and  will.     In  this  respect  they  are  a 


THE   CONVENTIONS  ^2^ 

reflection  of  the  category  of  decent  delegates  whom  the 
politicians  take  into  the  conventions,  to  impart  to  those 
latter  a  tone  of  respectability.  Their  weakness  of 
character  easily  makes  them  the  tools  of  the  astute  poli- 
ticians, who  may  became  "  a  power  behind  the  throne 
greater  than  the  throne,"  and  this  is  what  often  induces 
a  party  Machine  or  a  boss  to  select  them. 

58.  Even  in  places  where  the  party  Organization  is  No  induce- 
not  strong  enough,  nor  corrupt  or  ambitious  enough,  to  "^^^*^.  ^^^ 
dictate  to  the  officials  who  owe  their  nomination  to  it,  men. 
superior  men  have  little  prospect  or  desire  of  being 
adopted  by  the  conventions.  We  have  not  to  look  for 
an  explanation;  it  is  there  in  the  three  words  "get- 
ting the  delegates,"  which  are  inscribed  on  the  door  of 
American  political  life  like  the  three  well-known  words 
over  the  entrance  to  Dante's  Inferno.  Besides,  most 
of  the  public  offices  hold  out  a  very  poor  bait  to  ambition 
or  the  love  of  gain.  In  a  State  there  are  not  ten  really 
important  posts.  The  emoluments  are  wretched, 
compared  with  those  in  private  concerns.  The  posi- 
tion is  a  most  precarious  one,  for  the  elective  terms 
are  short,  not  exceeding  two  years  on  the  average, 
and  rarely  extending  to  four  (except  for  certain  judge- 
ships, the  term  of  which  is  fourteen  or  even  twenty-one 
years).  The  chances  of  re-election  are  almost  nil. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  liberal  professions  and  industrial 
and  commercial  pursuits  offer,  amid  the  steady  growth 
of  the  country,  an  endless  field  of  activity,  in  which  the 
most  gifted  minds  and  the  strongest  energies  can  find 
Worthy  scope  and  win  triumphs  which  flatter  self-love, 
excite  the  imagination,  and  satisfy  the  craving  for 
wealth.     Political  offices,  that  is  to  say,  those  which  are 


128 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Eligibles 
restricted 
by  local 
residence. 


considered  as  such  in  Europe,  seats  in  legislative  as- 
semblies and  ministerial  posts,  have  little  attraction 
for  Americans,  far  less  than  in  the  Old  World.  The 
American  political  arena  is  too  small,  split  up  as 
it  is  by  the  federative  organization  of  the  Union  into 
a  great  number  of  little  compartments;  the  contests 
which  are  fought  in  it,  even  on  the  large  Federal 
stage,  almost  entirely  turning  on  business  questions, 
have  no  dramatic  interest  capable  of  attracting  doughty 
combatants  and  a  numerous  public  whose  shouts  and 
applause  stimulate  and  reward  them.  Nor  does  the 
position  of  legislator  confer  a  patent  of  social  nobility, 
as  it  used  to  do  in  the  dawn  of  American  political  life, 
and  as  it  still  does  in  the  present  day  in  England, 
to  a  certain  extent ;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  social 
nobility  in  the  United  States,  as  a  whole;  in  the 
older  parts  of  the  country,  as  the  East  and  South, 
there  may  be  still  found  such  a  social  stratum.  At 
all  events  the  members  of  the  legislative  assemblies 
would  be  the  last  persons  to  come  in  for  it :  the  dis- 
credit into  which  they  have  fallen  is  too  great. 

Restricted  by  so  many  more  or  less  organic  conditions, 
the  circle  of  those  eligible  by  the  conventions  is  still 
further  narrowed,  owing  to  two  prejudices  which  have 
obtained  the  force  of  political  customs  or  laws.  One 
has  made  a  dogma  of  the  principle  of  local  representa- 
tion in  its  strictest  sense,  according  to  which  elective 
offices  can  be  filled  only  by  persons  residing  in  the  po- 
litical subdivision  in  question,  so  that  to  stand,  for  in- 
stance, for  Congress,  it  is  not  enough  to  be  an  American 
citizen,  or  even  a  citizen  of  the  State,  but  you  must 
also  be  domiciled  in  the  congressional  district  which 


THE   CONVENTIONS  1 29 

has  to  elect  its  representative.  A  man  of  the  highest 
eminence,  with  a  national  and,  perhaps,  universal  repu- 
tation, if  he  is  not  a  prophet  in  his  own  little  country, 
cannot  enter  political  life,  nor  re-enter  it  if  he  has  lost 
the  favour  of  his  constituents  or  of  the  ruling  clique. 
For  instance,  Gladstone,  who,  in  the  course  of  his  stir- 
ring career,  had  to  change  his  constituency  several  times, 
would  have  been  excluded  from  the  American  Congress 
from  the  outset.  This  restriction  of  the  eligibles  to  the  and  'rota- 
local  residents  is  accompanied  by  another  which  ag-  ^*°°* 
gravates  it  in  a  marked  degree.  Custom  has  fixed  a 
maximum  of  occupation  for  each  office :  one  term,  two 
or  three,  and  once  this  limit  is  reached,  the  holder,  what- 
ever his  merit  and  the  services  which  he  might  have 
been  able  to  render  in  the  future,  owing  to  the  experi- 
ence acquired,  must  retire;  "he  has  had  enough,"  "he 
should  step  aside  to  give  somebody  else  a  chance." 
In  the  South,  this  practice  does  not  prevail.  In  New 
England,  also,  people  like  to  keep  good  old  servants, 
but  there,  too,  unreasoning  rotation  triumphs  owing 
to  the  prejudice  of  local  representation.  A  legislative 
district  is  composed  of  several  localities,  of  six  or 
seven  towns,  which  elect  a  member  together.  Accord- 
ingly, to  "  pass  the  honours  around,"  on  each  occasion 
a  representative  of  another  town  is  elected  in  turn. 

59.  Thus  everything  conspires  to  ensure  the  adop-  The  avail- 
tion  at  the  conventions  of  candidates  stamped  with  the  ^^^  ^^^  *" 
common  hallmark  of  mediocrity.  But  far  from  being 
a  blemish,  this  quality  generally  becomes  the  first  con- 
dition of  their  success  at  elections.  We  are  already 
familiar,  from  the  history  of  the  presidential  candida- 
tures, with  the  "available  candidate,"  and  his  qualifica- 


130  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

tions.  The  same  qualifications  apply  just  as  much  to 
offices  below  that  of  the  President ;  in  each  case  the  most 
suitable  candidate  will  be  the  one  who  has  not  made  him- 
self conspicuous  in  a  good  or  a  bad  sense,  who  has  had 
no  opportunity  of  making  enemies.  Intellectual  ability 
will  always  be  useful  to  him;  it  is  just  as  well  that  he 
should  be  a  good  speaker,  but  it  is  not  indispensable. 
Nor  is  the  prestige  of  wealth  an  important  factor  in  the 
United  States  for  winning  popular  suffrages.  The  local 
influence  wielded  by  the  candidate  is  no  doubt  an 
advantage  to  him,  but  amid  the  general  fluctuation 
to  which  existence  in  the  New  World  is  liable,  a  man 
is  up  one  day  and  down  the  next. 

Compared  with  England,  the  individuality  of  the  can- 
didate in  the  democracy  of  America  is  very  faint  indeed. 
In  England  the  elector  votes  for  a  candidate,  in  America 
for  a  ticket  on  which  all  the  numerous  candidates  are 
jumbled  together.  The  English  candidate  has  to  face 
the  crowd  alone,  all  eyes  are  upon  him,  he  has  more 
need  than  his  American  congener  to  be  a  good  speaker, 
to  impress  the  intelligence  or  the  imagination  by  his 
personal  ability.  The  American  candidate  is  only  an 
ingredient  of  the  more  or  less  scientific  compound 
represented  by  the  ticket.  Its  particular  and  distinctive 
nature,  except  for  the  higher  offices  such  as  State  gov- 
ernor or  mayor,  is  of  value  only  to  the  extent  in  which  it 
can  accelerate  cohesion.  Appealing  to  an  electoral  body 
composed  of  various  groups,  the  ticket  will  be  all  the 
more  successful  with  it  because  its  composition  presents 
a  reflection  of  these  groups.  The  individuals  who  make 
up  the  slate  take  care  therefore  to  put  on  it,  according 
to  the  composition  of  the  electoral  population,  an  Irish- 


THE   CONVENTIONS  I3I 

man,  a  German,  a  Scandinavian,  a  Czech,  or,  in  other 
orders  of  ideas,  a  farmer,  a  cyclist  of  note. 

60.   The  legal  regulation  of  the  primaries  has  been  Legal 
extended  in  some  degree  to  the  conventions.     The  law  regulation 

1  r  1  •     •  1  11°^  conven- 

has  made  a  few,  rather  timid,  attempts  to  regulate  the  tions. 
procedure  of  the  conventions,  without,  however,  deeply 
affecting  the  life  of  those  assemblies.  Quite  otherwise 
has  been  the  effect  on  the  conventions  of  the  direct 
primaries  instituted  in  many  States.  In  the  State  of 
Wisconsin,  which  has  taken  the  lead  in  the  agitation  for 
bringing  about  that  reform,  the  conventions  have  been 
entirely  abolished;  in  Oklahoma  the  law  allows  them 
only  for  formulating  the  platforms  of  the  parties.  In 
some  States,  in  which  direct  primaries  have  been  in- 
troduced, all  conventions  except  State  conventions  or 
congressional  conventions,  have  ceased  to  exist,  simply 
in  consequence  of  the  fact  that  the  nominations  they 
used  to  make  are  henceforward  a  legal  attribution  of 
the  primaries.  In  those  States  only  the  presidential 
electors  and  the  delegates  to  the  National  Convention, 
or  even  these  latter  alone,  are  chosen  in  conventions. 
Lastly,  in  other  States,  in  which  the  law  providing  for 
nominations  by  the  primaries  applies  only  to  certain 
localities  or  to  certain  offices,  or  is  only  optional,  many 
other  categories  of  conventions  subsist,  besides  the 
State  conventions  or  the  congressional  conventions. 
The  convention  system  has  been  seriously  hurt  in  some 
fifteen  States,  and  in  a  still  greater  number  of  States 
the  selection  of  the  committees  has  been  taken  away  from 
the  will  of  the  conventions  and  handed  over  to  the  pri- 
maries or  left  to  the  conventions,  but  subject  to  rules 
established  by  law.      The  latter  determines  now  the 


132  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

structure  of  the  committees,  from  the  precinct  up  to 
the  central  State  committees,  now  the  mode  of  their 
election,  and  sometimes  their  authority  is  specified. 

The  regulation  of  the  conventions  by  the  law  of  the 
States  had  to  stop,  naturally,  at  the  threshold  of  the  Na- 
tional Convention.  Still  it  has  attempted  to  penetrate 
even  there,  having  provided,  in  Wisconsin  and  in  Okla- 
homa, for  the  election  of  delegates  to  national  conven- 
tions in  direct  primaries,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  in  a  third 
State  in  the  West  the  law  has  given  to  the  primaries 
the  choice  of  the  members  of  the  national  committee 
for  the  State. 


EIGHTH   CHAPTER 


THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION 


6 1.   The  part  of   the  National  Convention,  which  The 

chooses  the  candidates  for  the  Presidency  and  the  Vice-  National 
_       .  ,  .  „  .        1  rr^i  1      .     Convention. 

Presidency,  is  naturally  an  exceptional  one.  The  stake  is 

enormous ;  it  includes  the  highest  prize  to  which  the  ambi- 
tion of  an  American  citizen  can  aspire ;  it  confers  for  the 
space  of  four  years  executive  powers  extending  over  a 
whole  continent,  among  others  that  of  patronage,  which  ; ; 

has  in  its  hands  the  life  and  death,  so  to  speak,  of  about  ^ 

300,000  office-holders  scattered  over  the  face  of  the 
Union;  it  may  settle  the  destinies  of  the  rival  parties 
for  many  a  year  to  come.  The  citizen  who  pays 
no  heed  to  the  affairs  of  his  State  and  of  his  city, 
which  concern  him  so  nearly,  fires  up  on  the  approach 
of  the  national  conventions ;  but,  by  a  singular  piece  of 
inconsistency,  he  does  not  take  more  interest  than  usual, 
that  is  to  say,  he  takes  hardly  any  interest,  in  the  prima- 
ries and  in  the  local  conventions  from  which  the  Na- 
"tional  Convention  will  issue  like  a  cast  from  a  mould. 
The  formation  of  the  national  conventions  is,  therefore, 
left  to  the  professional  politicians,  and  these  latter 
reserve  for  themselves  the  greatest  number  of  the 
mandates,  for  every  vote  which  helps  to  make  the 
future  President  has  a  high  commercial  value ;  it  gives 
its  owner  claims  on  the  gratitude  of  the  future  Adminis- 
tration, which  takes  many  forms,  from  an  embassy  in 

^33 


134  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

Europe  down  to  a  postmastership  in  the  Far  West. 
They  may  be  estimated  at  nine-tenths,  those  delegates 
who  are  engrossed  by  their  own  interests  at  the  conven- 
tion. In  the  crowd  of  politicians  who  flock  to  the  con- 
ventions all  ranks  are  represented :  Senators  of  the  United 
States,  State  governors,  and  so  on  down  to  aspirants  to 
modest  places ;  and  each  of  them  has  an  axe  to  grind. 
Compo-  62.   The  representation  at  the  national  conventions  is 

sition  of        established  on  a  fixed  basis :  each  State  sends  to  them, 

the  National  .  •        1         o 

Convention,  whatever  the  importance  of  the  party  m  that  btate, 
twice  as  many  delegates  as  it  has  Representatives  and 
Senators  in  Congress;  for  instance,  the  State  of  New 
York,  which  has,  in  virtue  of  its  population,  thirty-seven 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  plus  the  two 
Senators  that  are  allotted  to  each  State  indiscriminately, 
deputes  seventy-eight  delegates ;  the  State  of  Delaware 
or  of  Montana,  which  has  but  one  Representative  in 
Congress  and  its  two  Senators,  sends  six  delegates  to 
the  convention.  Besides  this,  the  Territories,  repre- 
sented in  Congress  by  delegates  without  a  voice,  and 
the  District  of  Columbia,  not  represented  at  all,  are 
empowered  to  take  part  in  the  conventions.  Their 
populations  are  not  allowed  to  vote  for  the  President,^ 
but  in  order  to  develop  party  life  in  the  Territories,  the 

*  The  inhabitants  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  contains  the 
Federal  capital,  the  city  of  Washington,  built  on  neutralized  ground 
not  forming  part  of  any  State,  and  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
Congress,  are  permanently  excluded  from  voting  (except  those  who 
have  a  legal  domicile  elsewhere).  As  for  the  Territories,  which  are 
the  new  parts  of  the  Union,  generally  reclaimed  from  the  great  wilder- 
ness of  the  Far  West  and  not  yet  formed  into  States  owing  to  their 
imperfect  economic  and  political  development,  they  do  not  acquire 
the  right  of  voting  for  presidential  Electors  until  they  are  admitted 
into  the  Union  as  States. 


THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION  I35 

organizations  of  the  parties  concede  to  them,  and  to 
the  District  of  Columbia  by  courtesy,  a  representation 
at  the  conventions,  which  consists  of  two  delegates 
at  the  Republican,  and  six  at  the  Democratic  conven- 
tions. The  House  of  Representatives,  having  at  the 
present  moment  391  members,  and  the  Senate  92  for 
the  forty-six  States,  the  double  number  of  the  delegates 
to  the  national  conventions  gives  a  total  of  966  plus 
14,  or  42  delegates  for  the  Territories  of  Alaska,  Ari- 
zona, New  Mexico,  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico,  the  Philip- 
pines, and  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  addition  an 
alternate  is  appointed  for  each  delegate  to  take  his 
place  in  case  he  is  prevented  from  attending. 

The  four  delegates  who  represent  the  Senators  of  the 
State  multiplied  by  two  are  chosen  by  the  State  con- 
ventions, and  are  called  "delegates  at  large";  the 
other  delegates,  who  correspond  to  the  members  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  are  chosen,  to  the  number 
of  two  for  each  congressional  district,  by  the  district 
conventions.*  That  is  the  invariable  mode  of  election  \ 
followed  Ijy  the  Republican  partv :  whereas  the  Demo- 
rrgts,  leaning  tp  the  St^itp.rightn  fintirmT -elert  nil  thft> 
delegates  in  the  State^conventioa  by  the  delpgatioBS 
from  each  congressional  district  orbyjlie  whole  conven- 
tion. This  conception  of  the  representation  of  the 
State,  of  a  highly  centralizing  character,  has  received, 
in  the  Democratic  party,  a  still  more  serious  application 
in  the  form  of  the  "  unit  rule,"  which  restricts  the  right 
of  the  individual  delegates  to  vote  according  to  their 
preferences ;  the  State  convention,  whether  it  elects  only 

*  Except  in  the  States  of  Wisconsin  and  Oklahoma  where  the 
delegates  to  national  conventions  are  elected  in  the  primaries. 


136  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

the  four  delegates  at  large  or  all  the  delegates,  can  order 
them  to  vote  as  a  unit  at  the  National  Convention,  in 
accordance  with  the  decision  of  the  majority.  For  in- 
stance, if  in  the  State  delegation  of  seventy-two  mem- 
bers instructed  to  vote  as  a  unit,  thirty-seven  delegates 
are  in  favour  of  a  certain  candidate,  the  votes  of  the 
other  thirty-five  delegates  are  passed  to  his  credit,  al- 
though they  are  hostile  to  him.  The  State  conventions 
of  all  the  parties,  without  distinction,  often  give  the  dele- 
gates instructions  to  vote  for  a  particular  presidential 
candidate.  However,  these  instructions  leave  the  dele- 
gates a  certain  latitude  so  that  in  reality  the  delegates 
come  to  the  National  Convention  with  full  powers. 
Call  for  63.   The  convention  meets  in  the  summer  of  the 

the  Conven-  "presidential  year,"  that  is  to  say,  of  that  in  which  the 
people  will  have  to  choose,  on  the  first  Tuesday  in 
November  in  leap  year,  the  presidential  electors  who,  ac- 
cording to  the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  elect  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Vice-President.  The  business  preliminary 
to  the  convention  is  entrusted  to  the  national  committee 
of  the  party,  which  is  appointed  every  four  years,  in  the 
National  Convention,  by  the  respective  delegations  of  all 
the  States  and  Territories,  each  of  them  choosing  one 
member.^  In  the  beginning  of  the  year,  the  national 
committee  calls  on  the  State  committees  to  proceed  to 
the  election  of  the  delegates,  and,  at  the  same  time,  fixes 
the  date  and  the  place  of  meeting  of  the  convention. 
The  con-  ^^^  enormous  influx  of  visitors  caused  by  the  sitting 

vention         of  the  convention,   and  perhaps,   also,   local  amour- 
^^^^'  propre,  make  several  cities  compete  for  the  honour  of 

^  In  the  State  of  South  Dakota  the  law  on  direct  primaries  re- 
quires that  national  committeemen  should  be  elected  in  the  primaries. 


THE   NATIONAL  CONVENTION  I37 

having  it.  They  plead  their  cause  before  the  national 
committee  through  numerous  deputations.  The  ap- 
plicants promise  to  provide,  in  addition  to  a  large  sum 
of  money  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  convention  and  the 
travelling  and  hotel  expenses  of  the  members  of  the 
national  committee  and  their  wives,  all  the  elements 
of  comfort  required  by  visitors,  including  fine  weather. 

A  few  days  before  the  opening  of  the  convention,  the  Conven- 
city  in  which  it  is  to  be  held  assumes  a  special  aspect,  p°^^„  ^i" 
"a  convention  aspect."  The  streets,  adorned  with  a  the  city, 
profusion  of  flags  and  bunting  flying  over  the  crossings, 
the  hotels  inhabited  by  the  delegations,  and  other  politi- 
cal "head-quarters,"  are  thronged  by  a  huge  crowd, 
"a  convention  crowd."  Favoured  by  "convention 
weather,"  it  makes  a  continuous  hubbub,  "a  conven- 
tion stir,"  from  morning  till  evening,  and  even  later. 
The  whole  town  is  swamped  with  "enthusiasm,"  "con- 
vention enthusiasm,"  or,  if  the  expression  is  preferred, 
"  pre-convention  enthusiasm."  The  arrival  of  the  dele- 
gations provokes  the  first  outbursts  of  it.  At  the  station 
a  solemn  reception  awaits  the  delegation.  Zealous  po- 
litical co-religionists  formed  into  clubs  for  the  duration 
of  the  presidential  campaign,  or  delegations  which  have 
already  arrived,  go  to  meet  the  new  delegation  and 
welcome  it  with  harangues  and  applause  re-echoed  by 
the  shouts  of  the  assembled  crowd.  Then  the  whole 
company  walks  in  a  procession  to  the  hotel  in  which  the 
delegation  has  engaged  rooms.  To  the  sound  of  drums 
and  fifes,  in  the  midst  of  a  frenzied  crowd,  the  new 
arrivals  march  past,  adorned  with  badges,  medals,  and 
ribbons  bearing  the  name  of  their  State. 

Each  State  delegation  has  its  head-quarters  in  a 


138 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Presiden- 
tial candi- 
datures. 


Favourite 
sons. 


hotel,  known  from  afar  by  a  large  sign  and  flags.  It  is 
the  meeting-place  of  all  the  citizens  of  the  State  who 
attend  the  convention,  either  to  help  the  different  candi- 
dates in  the  campaign  or  as  spectators.  If  all  of  them  do 
not  receive  a  plentiful  supply  of  drinks  and  cigars  at  the 
head-quarters  of  their  State,  they  are  all  sure  to  obtain 
badges  with  the  name  of  the  State  there ;  endless  batches 
of  men  and  women  come  to  fetch  them,  and  it  is  not  until 
they  have  pinned  them  on  their  breast  that  they  consider 
themselves  in  proper  trim  and,  as  it  were,  entitled  to 
swell  the  crush  and  the  uproar  prevailing  in  the  city. 
The  number  of  visitors  who  have  come  simply  as  sight- 
seers is  enormous.  It  is  a  huge  fair  which  attracts 
people  from  all  quarters.  The  streets  adjoining  the 
head-quarters  are  blocked  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is 
sometimes  necessary  to  stop  all  wheeled  traffic.  Inside 
the  hotels  matters  are  still  worse,  especially  in  the  even- 
ing, when  the  visitors  are  joined  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
city  after  their  day's  work. 

64.  The  presidential  candidates  are  almost  always 
numerous.  They  are  spoken  of  a  very  long  time  before 
the  meeting  of  the  convention  as  "presidential  possibil- 
ities." During  the  year  which  precedes  the  meeting 
of  the  convention,  in  a  good  many  States  the  general 
feeling,  or  rather  the  feeling  of  the  politicians,  settles 
down  in  favour  of  one  of  its  more  or  less  eminent  citi- 
zens as  candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  the  Union. 
This  feeling  stamps  him  as  the  "favourite  son"  of 
his  native  State  and  makes  him  a  competitor.  Every 
national  convention  is  confronted  with  half  a  dozen  or 
more  "favourite  sons"  of  somewhat  unequal  merit 
and  reputation.     Some  have  had  a  fairly  long  political 


THE   NATIONAL  CONVENTION  I39 

experience  either  in  Congress  or  as  member  of  the 
Cabinet  or  State  governor;  others,  and  this  is  not  so 
common,  have  hardly  had  an  opportunity  of  winning 
their  spurs  in  public  life,  but  have  achieved  a  local 
position,  especially  through  the  arts  of  the  politician. 
Some  are  not  known  at  all  outside  their  own  State,  the 
popularity  of  others  extends  beyond  its  limits,  and  a 
few  have  a  national  reputation.  Side  by  side  with  these 
candidatures  brought  forward  with  perfect  good  faith, 
there  are  others  which  are  a  mere  speculation  —  al- 
most a  form  of  blackmail.  A  powerful  boss  who  is 
absolute  master  of  the  delegation  of  his  State,  since  it 
was  chosen  by  his  Machine,  runs  a  candidate  with  the 
sole  object  of  selling  his  withdrawal  at  a  high  figure. 
The  candidate  thus  marked  out  for  the  part  of  pawn  is, 
perhaps,  the  only  person  imaware  of  the  fact.  To  the 
same  end  the  boss  sometimes  gets  himself  nominated 
as  presidential  candidate  by  the  State  convention. 
Among  the  genuine  candidatures,  a  good  many  are  put 
forward  only  as  a  matter  of  form,  without  any  chance  of 
success,  simply  by  way  of  tribute  to  the  distinguished 
citizen  who  represents  the  dignity  of  the  State  for  the 
occasion. 

Perhaps  the  good  fortune  of  being  a  "dark  horse,"  Dark 
who  will  be  chosen  at  the  eleventh  hour  in  preference  ^°'^^^- 
to  more  distinguished  aspirants,  is  in  store  for  some  of 
these  "favourite  sons,"  and  they  will  be  looked  on  as 
"dark  horse  possibilities";  but  the  "dark  horse"  is 
just  as  likely  to  be  an  outsider  and  to  appear  at  the  last 
moment  only.  The  dark  horse  is  not  necessarily  an 
obscure  personage ;  on  the  contrary,  he  may  be  very  well 
known  in  the  country  and  perhaps  be  extremely  popular, 


I40  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

but  he  does  not  appear  to  command  acceptance  as  a 
presidential  candidate.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the 
candidates,  one  or  two,  are  brought  out  of  the  ruck  from 
the  very  first.  Their  great  national  reputation,  their  high 
rank  in  the  party,  or  their  character,  which  exercises 
a  fascination  over  the  masses,  give  them  an  exceptional 
force  of  attraction.  They  are  not  only  "  favourite  sons  " 
of  their  States,  but  general  "favourites";  and  the  per- 
sonality of  this  or  that  "favourite"  appears  to  be  so 
commanding  that  he  becomes  the  "logical  candidate" 
of  the  situation.  But  that  is  no  proof  whatever  that  he 
will  be  adopted  by  the  convention;  the  "favourite," 
as  we  shall  see,  is  more  likely  than  not  to  be  beaten. 
The  presi-  65.  To  whatever  category  the  aspirant  belongs,  even 
dentiai  jf  he  is  a  hot  "favourite"  and  the  "logical  candidate," 

the  progress  of  his  candidature  must  depend  on  the 
herculean  efforts  put  forth  during  the  few  days  which 
precede  the  convention,  and  in  the  course  of  the  session 
itself.  Each  aspirant  has  at  his  disposal  for  this  pur- 
pose not  only  the  delegation  of  his  State,  which  plimges 
wildly  into  the  fray,  but  numerous  special  workers. 
Their  efforts  are  directed  not  only  to  the  delegates, 
whose  votes  are  asked  for,  but  also  to  the  outside  multi- 
tude, with  a  view  to  creating  a  moral  atmosphere  favour- 
able to  the  aspirant  and  pressing  on  the  delegates  with 
the  weight  of  public  opinion.  This  twofold  propaganda, 
which  constitutes  what  is  called  "the  boom"  or  "boom- 
ing," in  political  slang,  is  full  of  dramatic  and  spectacu- 
lar incidents.  The  part  of  the  programme  intended  for 
the  outside  public  is  addressed  almost  exclusively  to  the 
senses.  True,  speeches  are  made  to  the  public,  mass 
meetings  are  got  up  in  front  of  the  hotels,  and  speakers 


THE   NATIONAL  CONVENTION  I4I 

discuss  the  situation  and  the  merits  of  the  candidate 
from  the  balconies.  But  the  favourite  plan  is  to  make 
the  candidate  popular  by  demonstrative  methods,  — 
by  exhibiting  and  shouting  out  his  name,  by  spreading 
abroad  the  reproduction  of  his  physiognomy.  The 
head-quarters  of  each  candidate  are  provided  with 
large  bales  of  his  portraits,  with  leaflets  relating  his 
glorious  life,  and,  especially,  with  badges  bearing  his 
name  and  his  likeness,  which  are  distributed  to  all 
comers. 

The  most  important  part  of  the  boom  of  the  candidate 
is  enacted  in  the  streets  and  consists  of  concerts,  sere- 
nades, parades,  and  processions,  by  day  and  by  night. 
The  persons  figuring  in  these  processions,  who  are  often 
obliging  auxiliaries  impelled  by  disinterested  "enthusi- 
asm," are  imported  by  hundreds  and  thousands  from 
the  candidate's  own  State  and  elsewhere.  They  are 
formed  into  companies,  generally  wearing  a  special 
dress,  and,  headed  by  a  band,  they  walk  through  the 
streets  to  show  how  many  admirers  the  candidate  pos- 
sesses. The  smarter  their  bearing  and  the  more 
picturesque  their  uniform,  the  more  they  impress  the 
crowd  in  favour  of  the  candidate.  Along  with  these 
sights  for  the  eye,  the  "boom"  includes  a  very  impor- 
tant vocal  element,  in  addition  to  the  band.  This  con- 
sists in  bellowing  out  the  candidate's  name ;  the  afore- 
said companies,  in  the  course  of  their  processions,  or 
special  bands,  numbering  perhaps  hundreds  of  persons, 
scour  the  streets  uttering  more  or  less  articulate  cries 
in  which  the  candidate's  name  can  be  distinguished. 
They  overrun  the  hotels,  and,  jostling  each  other  in  the 
passages,  execute  their  repertoire,  consisting  of  a  single 


142  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

refrain,  "Jones  for  President!"  or,  at  the  most,  some 
lines  like  the  following :  — 

He's  a  runner;  he's  a  winner; 
Wahoo  waugh !    Wahoo  waugh ! 
Billy  McKinley !     Billy  McKinley ! 
Wahoo  waugh !    Wahoo  waugh ! 

Behind  the        66.   The  conversions  effected  by  the  boom  in  the  street 
scenes.  cannot  be  of  importance.     Not  so  with  the  boom  which 

goes  on  inside  the  various  "head-quarters,"  by  more 
refined  methods  and  which  aims  directly  at  the  delegates. 
The  managers  of  each  aspirant  endeavour  to  spread 
abroad  the  impression  that  their  client  is  most  likely  to 
obtain  a  majority ;  that  it  is,  consequently,  good  policy 
to  join  him  instead  of  persisting  in  the  support  of  an 
aspirant  doomed  to  defeat.  They  quote,  with  some 
stretch  of  their  imagination,  the  delegations  which 
have  "mentioned"  or  even  "endorsed"  their  aspirant. 
A  few  members  of  the  delegation  are  detached  as  "mis- 
sionaries," and  visit  the  head-quarters  to  make  prose- 
lytes. They  are  received  courteously  and  listened  to  at- 
tentively ;  but  a  straightforward  answer  is  seldom  given 
them.  Everybody  is  on  his  guard;  the  ground  on 
which  one  treads  is  full  of  pitfalls.  Everything  depends 
on  the  combinations  which  are  being  formed  elsewhere, 
and  you  never  know  exactly  what  to  believe;  sinister 
rumours  are  continually  circulating ;  you  live  in  a  state 
of  perpetual  apprehension.  In  reality,  it  is  all  a  matter 
of  bargaining :  they  calculate,  they  appraise,  they  buy, 
they  sell.  The  bargain  is  rarely  stated  in  definite  terms ; 
there  is  a  tacit  understanding  that  the  delegate  who  gives 
his  vote  will  have  a  claim  on  the  lucky  winner. 

Only  a  small  number  of  delegates  are  bought  straight 


THE   NATIONAL  CONVENTION  I43 

out  with  cash.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the 
negro  delegates  of  the  Southern  States,  in  which  the 
local  organization  of  the  party,  and  notably  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  having  but  few  followers,  often  keep  up 
a  nominal  existence  simply  in  order  to  have  the  right 
of  sending  delegates  to  the  National  Convention.  This 
class  of  delegates  sells  itself  to  the  highest  bidder;  but, 
mindful  of  his  dignity,  the  coloured  gentleman  plays  a 
deep  game  and  at  first  refuses  to  treat,  and  then,  when 
the  price  has  been  agreed  on  with  him,  perhaps  he  has 
to  be  watched,  and,  to  prevent  him  from  coming  in  con- 
tact with  the  representative  of  a  rival  aspirant,  who 
might  entice  him  away,  he  is  "shadowed"  by  a  sort  of 
detective,  who  never  lets  him  out  of  his  sight.  Mines 
and  countermines  are  laid  the  whole  time.  Laborious 
negotiations  proceed  all  along  the  line;  it  is  a  con- 
tinuous series  of  conferences,  of  councils  of  war,  of 
confabulations,  in  which  the  leaders  expend  and  ex- 
haust their  energies.  When  lastly  an  understanding 
about  the  candidates  and  the  programme  has  been 
reached,  the  final  result  is  not  any  more  of  a  certainty ; 
the  convention  almost  always  has  great  surprises  in 
store. 

67.  The  sittings  of  the  National  Convention  are  public.  Opening 
and  generally  attract  from  10,000  to  !■;, 000  spectators.  ^^  t^® 

rr^i  1.  r     ,  .  1  ,  ,      Convention. 

ine  members  of  the  convention  alone  number  nearly 
2000  persons,  consisting  of  about  1000  delegates  and 
as  many  alternates.  The  convention,  therefore,  always 
sits  in  a  building  of  vast  size,  and  generally  erected  for 
the  purpose.  The  opening  of  the  doors  is  awaited  by 
an  enormous  crowd,  a  portion  of  which  will  be  ex- 
cluded for  want  of  tickets.     This  gathering  is  taken 


144  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

advantage  of  to  start  a  propaganda  in  extremis  in 
favour  of  this  or  that  presidential  aspirant:  the  vocal 
performers  use  what  voice  they  have  left;  here  and 
there  a  few  impromptu  orators  perhaps  deliver  speeches 
on  the  political  situation.  A  crowd  of  hawkers  offer 
emblems  in  the  form  of  walking-sticks,  pins,  buttons 
with  the  likeness  of  their  man,  small  national  flags, 
paper  fans  which  the  heat  makes  acceptable,  etc.  The 
attitude  of  the  crowd  is  excellent;  it  exhibits  the  good 
humour  and  indefinable  air  of  intelligence  which  are 
the  unfailing  characteristics  of  American  crowds. 

At  last  the  doors  are  thrown  open,  the  crowd  rushes 
in  and  occupies  all  the  seats  in  a  twinkling,  without 
any  disorder.  The  scene  which  meets  your  gaze  just 
at  first  is  unquestionably  a  very  imposing  one :  the  eye 
can  scarcely  take  in  the  amphitheatre,  the  benches  and 
galleries  are  black  with  people,  the  bright  July  sun 
plays  upon  the  human  sea  through  the  innumerable 
panes  of  glass  which  form  the  roof  of  the  building. 
All  the  galleries  are  hung  with  flags  and  bunting  en- 
circling the  portraits  of  the  great  ancestors  of  the  Repub- 
lic, the  illustrious  Presidents.  A  muffled  hum  of  voices 
fills  the  vast  enclosure  like  the  mutterings  of  the  ocean 
gathering  its  waves  before  it  lets  loose  the  storm,  while 
from  above  issue  other  sounds  of  a  clearer  and  more 
melodious  kind :  on  a  gallery  over  the  platform  an  or- 
chestra, completely  hidden  by  the  hangings,  plays 
popular  airs. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  chairman  of  the  national  com- 
mittee ascends  the  platform,  knocks  on  the  desk  with 
the  gavel,  and  calls  the  convention  to  order,  after 
which  a  clergyman  offers  up  a  prayer  to  invoke  the 


THE   NATIONAL   CONVENTION  I45 

blessing  of  Heaven  upon  the  labours  of  the  assembly. 
The  clergyman  is  chosen  without  distinction  of  cult  or 
sect.  The  Republican  convention  of  1896  was  opened 
by  a  rabbi.  The  prayer  recited  by  the  minister  is  of 
his  own  composition;  sometimes  this  prayer  steps  out 
of  ecclesiastical  commonplace,  assuming  a  mild  tone 
of  theological  freedom,  or  even  sounding  a  note  of 
protest  against  the  existing  social  and  political  order  of 
things.*  After  the  prayer  the  chairman  of  the  national 
committee,  on  behalf  of  the  latter,  submits  to  the  con- 
vention the  names  of  the  temporary  organization  of  the 
convention,  which  are,  as  a  rule,  adopted  by  the  assem- 
bly without  debate.  The  temporary  chairman  receives 
the  gavel  from  the  chairman  of  the  national  committee 
and  delivers  a  speech,  which  is  hailed  with  applause 
and  shouts.  This  is  the  first  explosion  of  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  crowd,  which  is  destined  to  reappear  only 
too  often  in  the  course  of  the  session. 

The  convention  begins  by  selecting  its  four  great 
committees,  viz.  the  committee  on  credentials,  on  per- 
manent organization,  on  rules  and  order  of  business, 
and  on  platform  or  on  resolutions.  The  roll  of  all  the 
States  is  called,  the  chairman  of  each  delegation  an- 
nounces the  names  of  the  members,  one  for  each  com- 
mittee, whom  it  appoints  t^  act  on  them.  Thereupon 
the  convention  adjourns,  and  the  committees  set  to 

*  Here  is  an  extract:  "Almighty  God,  Father  of  Men  and  Ruler 
of  the  universe  .  .  .  guide  then  the  choice  of  this  convention  so  that 
its  nominees  in  character  and  conviction  shall  represent  the  spirit  of 
modern  democracy,  a  progressive  democracy,  of  a  democracy  that 
is  arrayed  on  the  side  of  the  masses  as  against  the  classes,  and  that 
strives  to  lift  from  the  shoulders  of  the  people  the  burdens  borne  for 
the  benefit  of  the  favoured  few." 


mittees. 


146  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

work  at  once  in  order  to  submit  their  reports  on  the 
following  morning. 
Reports  of  68.  The  most  important  reports  of  the  committees 
the  com-  ^^^  those  of  the  committee  on  credentials  and  of  the 
committee  on  resolutions.  The  former  decides  all  the 
cases  of  contested  seats.  These  last  are  always  numer- 
ous; sometimes  individual  delegates  contend  for  the 
position,  at  others  two  complete  delegations  appear  for 
the  same  State,  each  claiming  to  be  the  duly  elected  one. 
These  rivalries  hardly  ever  represent  different  currents 
of  opinion;  they  proceed  exclusively  from  the  desire 
for  ''recognition,"  — the  delegation  which  is  admitted 
will  be  able  to  aspire  to  favours  at  the  hand  of  the 
Administration  which  the  convention  will  bring  into 
existence.  As  in  the  State  convention,  the  committee 
on  credentials  generally  admits  those  who  are  sup- 
ported by  the  local  regular  organization  of  the  party, 
and  if  there  are  two  complete  delegations  of  a  State 
they  are  often  reconciled  by  the  admission  of  both, 
with  a  half  vote  for  each  delegate.  After  the  report  of 
the  committee  on  credentials,  which  is  almost  always 
ratified  by  the  convention,  comes  up  the  report  of  the 
committee  on  permanent  organization,  which  submits 
the  names  of  the  permanent  officers  of  the  convention. 
This  list,  which,  by  the  way,  is  settled  beforehand  by 
the  national  committee,  is  accepted  without  opposition. 
The  permanent  chairman  delivers  a  long  speech  on 
the  political  situation,  repeatedly  and  frantically  inter- 
rupted by  cries  of  approval,  which  are  a  sort  of  instal- 
ment offered  by  the  crowd  of  the  shouts  with  which  it 
will  shortly  receive  the  platform  to  be  submitted  by  the 
committee  on  resolutions. 


THE   NATIONAL  CONVENTION  147 

The  platform  is  supposed  to  be  the  party's  profes-  The  piat- 
sion  of  faith  and  its  programme  of  action.  Usually  it  °^* 
presents  a  long  list  of  statements,  almost  on  omni  re 
scibili  et  quibusdam  aliis,  relating  to  politics,  in  which 
everybody  can  find  something  to  suit  him.  It  is  a 
catalogue  revised  and  enlarged  from  one  convention  to 
another.  If  a  new  problem  is  beginning  to  stir  the 
country,  if  any  question  not  only  of  a  political  but  of  a 
social  or  humanitarian  nature  is  interesting  public 
opinion  for  the  moment,  the  platform  hastens  to  re- 
echo it,  in  order  to  show  in  words  the  party's  solicitude 
for  the  particular  cause.  For  instance,  the  scandals  of 
the  spoils  system  having  exasperated  opinion  and  made 
*' civil  service  reform"  a  question  of  the  day,  the  plat- 
forms of  both  parties  hasten  to  add  a  strongly  worded 
paragraph  in  favour  of  the  reform,  which  all  the  dele- 
gates in  quest  of  spoils  of  course  hate  like  poison ;  and 
every  future  platform  reaffirms  the  pious  declaration. 
If  there  is  an  urgent  problem  which  demands  a  straight- 
forward solution,  the  concoctors  of  the  platform  en- 
deavour to  word  it  in  language  which  can  bear  dif- 
ferent constructions,  to  compose  a. "straddling"  one. 
The  reader  will  remember  that  such  are  the  traditions  of 
the  national  conventions,  and  he  is  aware  of  the  part 
which  this  conjuring  away  of  the  problems  of  the  day 
has  played  in  political  contests.  *One  part  of  the  plat- 
form, however,  is  quite  unequivocal ;  it  is  that  in  which 
it  usually  arraigns  the  rival  party  for  its  sins  and  crimes, 
its  unredeemed  pledges,  its  nefarious  policies  when  in 
power,  and  so  on.  The  principal  object  of  the  plat- 
form is,  in  the  present  day,  as  formerly,  to  catch  votes 
by  trading  on  the  credulity  of  the  electors.     The  de- 


148  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

clamatory  form  and  the  ambiguous  statements  of  this 
document  of  the  party  both  tend  in  this  direction.  As 
an  indication,  therefore,  of  the  policy  of  the  future 
administration  elected  on  this  platform,  the  latter  is  of 
no  great  value.  In  this  respect,  the  letter  of  acceptance 
of  the  candidate  adopted  by  the  convention,  in  which 
he  states  his  aims  and  his  views  on  the  great  questions 
of  the  day,  is  far  more  important.  The  platform  has 
just  as  little  significance  and  authority  for  Congress. 
Nominat-  69.   After  the  adoption  of  the  platform  all  the  States 

ing  speeches.  ^^^  invited,  in  alphabetical  order,  to  introduce  their 
aspirants.  Those  who  have  any  respond  to  the  invi- 
tation by  putting  up  speakers  to  support  the  claims  of 
their  "favourite  sons,"  or,  in  general,  of  the  men  whom 
they  prefer.  These  nominating  speeches  are  looked  on 
as  the  aesthetic  treat  of  the  entertainment.  The  eulo- 
gium  of  the  aspirant  is  generally  pompous  and  bom- 
bastic; it  tries  to  be  at  once  persuasive  and  affecting. 
It  dwells  on  the  aspirant's  special  chances  of  being 
elected  if  he  is  adopted  as  a  candidate ;  it  tells  the  story 
of  his  life,  beginning  with  the  days  of  his  childhood  and 
his  youth.  If  they  have  been  full  of  toil  and  hardship, 
so  much  the  better:  that  will  melt  the  hearts  of  the 
audience;  if  he  has  had  to  go  barefoot  for  want  of 
shoe-leather,  that  is  a  real  godsend;  the  people,  "the 
plain  people,"  will  recognize  in  him  "one  of  them- 
selves," and  the  others  will  share  this  feeling  out  of 
democratic  snobbery.  For  there  is  nothing  so  becom- 
ing in  American  society  as  the  humble  beginnings  of  a 
successful  man,  as  the  poverty  and  misery  which  have 
faded  into  a  reminiscence  in  his  life.  Whatever  the 
jeal  position  and  the  notoriety  of  the  aspirant,  the 


THE   NATIONAL   CONVENTION  I49 

speaker  who  eulogizes  him  never  considers  himself 
under  any  restriction  in  the  choice  of  terms  for  glorify- 
ing him;  the  speech  teems  with'the  most  extravagant 
epithets  and  with  metaphors  of  extraordinary  boldness. 
The  orator  lays  under  contribution  the  poets,  myth- 
ology, modern  history,  ancient  history,  and  that  of 
Rome  in  particular.  At  the  Democratic  convention  of 
1896  a  candidate  was  introduced  in  these  terms:  **We 
give  you  another  Cicero  —  Cicero  to  meet  another 
Catiline.'*  Another  candidate,  a  farmer  from  the  West, 
was  put  forward  as  "that  illustrious  statesman  and 
patriot,  that  Tiberius  Gracchus";  and  the  speaker  ad- 
jured the  convention  to  vote  for  the  American  Grac- 
chus "by  the  ashes  of  your  ancestors;  by  the  memories 
of  your  great  and  venerated  dead;  by  the  love  which 
you  bear  to  your  children ;  by  the  duty  which  you  owe 
to  posterity;  in  the  name  of  all  that  men  hold  sacred." 
In  the  majority  of  cases,  the  authors  of  these  impas- 
sioned appeals  know  perfectly  well  that  their  clients 
have  not  the  faintest  chance  of  obtaining  a  majority 
in  the  convention,  and  all  the  delegates  and  the  public 
are  aware  of  it  too;  but  the  grand  specimen  of  elo- 
quence is  none  the  less  delivered  and  listened  to  with 
conviction,  for,  as  in  the  theatre,  if  the  actors  and  the 
audience  did  not  look  as  if  they  believed  that  it  has  all 
really  happened,  there  could  be  no  play  at  all. 

It  is  remarkable,  as  illustrating  the  psychology  of  the 
American  elector,  that  for  more  than  seventy  years, 
from  the  date  at  which  one  finds  the  prototype  of  the 
nominating  speech,  the  national  convention  style  of 
eloquence  has  not  changed.  In  the  speech,  delivered 
at  the  Democratic  convention  of  1835,  in  favour  of  the 


150  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

candidature  of  R.  M.  Johnson  to  the  Vice-Presidency, 
we  read  as  follows :  — 

Who  is  he?  If,  Mr.  President,  you  could  transport  yourself 
to  the  ''Farwest,"  you  would  find  upon  one  of  her  green  and 
sunny  fields,  surrounded  by  the  implements  of  husbandry,  a  per- 
sonage whose  plain  and  simple  garb,  whose  frank  and  cordial 
and  unostentatious  bearing,  would  tell  you  that  he  had  sprung 
from  the  people  —  that  he  was  still  one  of  them,  and  that  his 
heart,  in  all  its  recollections,  its  hopes,  and  its  sympathies,  was 
blended  with  the  fortunes  of  the  toiling  millions.  .  .  .  Sir,  his 
deeds  rely  not  for  recollection  or  blazonry  upon  musty  records, 
nor  yet  upon  caucus  or  convention  addresses;  they  have  been 
spoken  in  the  thunders  of  victorious  battles,  they  have  been 
written  upon  the  hacked  and  broken  armour  of  his  country's 
invaders.  .  .  .  There  is  a  voice  from  the  great  valleys  of  the 
West;  from  all  her  cities  and  cottages.  There  is  a  voice  from 
the  East,  from  the  North,  and  the  South;  there  is  a  voice  from 
the  fields  of  the  husbandman,  from  the  workshops  of  the  me- 
chanic, from  the  primary  assemblies  of  the  people,  from  the  con- 
ventions of  neighbourhoods  and  States,  calling  aloud  for  the 
elevation  of  the  war-worn  soldier,  this  tried  and  uncorruptible 
patriot,  this  advocate  of  the  destitute  and  downtrodden,  this 
friend  to  freedom  and  to  man.     Such,  sir,  is  Richard  M.  Johnson. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a  nominating  speech  made  half 
a  century  later.  I  take  at  random  an  address  delivered 
at  the  Republican  convention  of  1884  in  favour  of  a 
candidate  who  obtained  13  votes  out  of  813. 

X.  was  born  in  North  Carolina.  He  draws  from  southern 
blood  and  southern  soil  and  southern  skies  the  generous  chivalry 
of  a  nature  that  abhors  cant  and  hypocrisy  and  falsehood,  and 
feels  the  stain  like  a  wound.  Thirty-four  years  ago  he  came,  a 
poor,  barefooted,  penniless  boy,  to  the  rugged  soil  of  Connecti- 
cut, where  breathing  its  free  air,  listening  to  its  free  speech,  and 
taught  in  its  free  school,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  a  manly  char- 
acter and  life  in  principles  which  are  as  enduring  as  Connecti- 


THE   NATIONAL  CONVENTION  15I 

cut's  everlasting  hills.  .  .  .  The  fierce  light  that  beats  against 
a  presidential  candidate  will  explore  his  record  in  vain,  and  he 
will  come  out  brighter  from  the  blaze.  His  life  is  gentle,  and 
the  elements  are  so  mixed  in  him  that  nature  might  stand  up  and 
say  to  all  the  world,  "This  is  a  man."  His  nomination  would 
take  the  people,  for  he  is  what  the  people  all  love  —  God  Al-  • 
mighty's  noblest  work,  an  honest  man.  Such  a  nomination  would 
sweep  from  the  storm-beaten  coast  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  Golden 
Gate  of  the  peaceful  sea.  With  him  elected  in  vigour  of  his  life 
and  plenitude  of  his  powers,  beloved  at  home  and  respected 
abroad,  with  our  free  institutions  and  our  imperial  domain,  we 
should  need  no  Bartholdi  statue  standing  at  the  gate-way  of  com- 
merce with  uplifted  torch  to  typify  the  genius  of  liberty  enlighten- 
ing the  world. 

The  same  type  of  eloquence  was  conspicuous  in  the 
recent  national  conventions,  down  to  those  of  1908, 
though  sometimes  other  tunes,  more  sober,  resounded, 
and  some  really  eloquent  speeches  have  been  made. 

70.    Every  speech  is  interrupted  and  brought  to  a  Demonstra- 
close  by  more  or  less  frantic  shouts;   being  looked  on  tions  on  the 

\       ^  ^  '  o  nominating 

as  a  criterion  of  the  aspirant's  popularity,  these  out-  speeches, 
cries  impress  the  delegates,  make  the  weak  hesitate, 
and  sometimes  decide  the  wavering.  The  campaign 
managers  of  each  aspirant,  therefore,  consider  these 
manifestations  as  a  card  in  their  game,  and  procure 
them  by  means  of  a  paid  claque,  judiciously  distributed 
over  the  enormous  hall.  This  is  the  last  and  the  most 
impressive  act  of  the  "boom"  organized  on  behalf  of 
the  aspirant ;  inside  the  convention  building  the  boom 
becomes  an  apotheosis.  As  soon  as  the  aspirant's 
name  is  uttered,  the  delegates  who  support  him  and 
the  paid  applauders  jump  up  on  their  seats  and  break 
into  cheers  or  other  less  articulate  cries,  which  are 
immediately  taken  up  by  a  more  or  less  considerable 


152  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

section  of  the  crowd.  The  latter  are  only  too  ready  to 
make  a  row,  they  have  almost  a  physiological  need  of 
this  relief;  it  is  enough  for  the  claque  to  give  the  signal 
for  them  to  go  into  convulsions.  If  the  aspirant  is  a 
favourite,  a  very  popular  man,  whom  the  forecasts 
place  in  the  first  flight  for  the  Presidential  race,  the 
delirium  reaches  an  indescribable  pitch  of  intensity. 
Hardly  has  the  speaker  pronounced  his  name  than  his 
portrait,  which  has  been  held  in  reserve,  is  hoisted  aloft 
and  carried  about  the  hall,  every  one  is  on  his  legs, 
shouting,  screaming,  tossing  hats  and  handkerchiefs  into 
the  air,  waving  small  flags  and  open  umbrellas.  It  is 
a  sort  of  pandemonium  or  Bedlam.  The  chairman 
with  his  gavel  is  quite  helpless,  it  is  in  vain  that  he  tells 
the  band  to  play  in  order  to  tranquillize  the  assembly ; 
a  duel  begins  between  the  orchestra,  which  energetically 
strikes  up  the  "Star-Spangled  Banner,"  and  the  yelling 
crowd;  now  and  then  a  few  sounds  from  the  instru- 
ments are  audible,  but  they  are  instantaneously  drowned 
by  the  shouting.  The  orchestra  tries  to  play  "  Dixie," 
or  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me";  it  is  of  no  avail, 
the  crowd  refuses  to  listen.  The  paroxysm  is  at  its 
height.  Here  a  delegate  takes  off  his  coat,  hoists  it  on 
a  walking-stick,  and,  waving  it  with  both  hands,  begins 
to  dance,  probably  in  imitation  of  King  David  dancing 
before  the  Ark.  Another  enthusiast,  at  the  further  end 
of  the  hall,  creates  a  precedent  himself  by  taking  off 
his  boots  and  waving  them  one  on  an  umbrella  and  the 
other  on  a  stick.  The  crowd  does  not  stop  until  com- 
pelled by  fatigue,  by  exhaustion.  At  last  the  long 
string  of  panegyrics  is  at  an  end ;  wearied  with  oratory 
and  overcome  by  the  tremendous  physical  exertion, 


THE   NATIONAL   CONVENTION  1 53 

every  one  takes  breath  to  prepare  for  the  new  and  su- 
preme emotions  to  be  afforded  by  the  ballots. 

71.  The  voting  for  the  candidates  is  attended  with  The 
the  same  publicity  as  all  the  proceedings  which  have  balloting, 
gone  before  it :  as  the  name  of  each  State  is  called  out 
in  alphabetical  order  the  chairman  of  the  delegation 
announces  to  whom  it  gives  its  votes.  In  the  Demo- 
cratic conventions,  the  votes  are  all  credited  to  a  single 
candidate,  that  of  the  majority  of  the  delegates  ("  unit 
rule").  In  the  Republican  conventions,  where  each 
delegate  is  entitled  to  vote  as  he  pleases,  the  chairman 
of  the  delegation  announces  several  candidates,  if  there 
is  occasion  for  it,  mentioning  at  the  same  time  the  num- 
ber of  votes  given  to  each.  The  majority  which  an 
aspirant  must  obtain  to  be  proclaimed  candidate  is  a 
bare  majority  with  the  Republicans,  and  a  two-thirds 
one  with  the  Democrats.  The  manoeuvres  and  the  in- 
trigues relating  to  the  person  of  the  future  President, 
which  have  been  carried  on  by  managers  and  powerful 
State  bosses,  may  be  paralyzed  by  the  force  of  public 
opinion,  which  sometimes  imposes  its  candidate  on  the 
convention  with  inflexible  persistency.*  However,  such 
a  direct  pressure  of  opinion  has  been  of  extremely  rare 
occurrence  till  these  latest  times.  When  the  balloting 
begins,  the  situation  is  generally  still  very  uncertain,  for 

*  Thus,  for  instance,  in  1892  the  head  politicians  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  along  with  Tammany  Hall,  were  hostile  to  Cleveland's 
candidature;  but  in  the  country  at  large  it  aroused  the  greatest  en- 
thusiasm; and  the  politicians  had  to  yield  and  give  him  a  majority 
at  the  first  ballot.  His  Republican  rival,  Harrison,  who  then  filled 
the  Presidency  and  was  seeking  renomination,  was  opposed  by  several 
State  bosses,  who  combined  to  ensure  his  defeat;  but  the  bulk  of 
the  delegates  did  not  follow  them,  believing  in  Harrison's  success 
with  the  electorate,  and  brought  him  in  also  at  the  first  ballot. 


154 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


MancEuvres 
of  the  rival 
champions. 


Available 
candidates. 


it  depends  entirely  on  intrigues  and  manoeuvres  which, 
although  they  have  been  prosecuted  unremittingly,  have 
not  yet  led  to  a  result.  The  first  ballot,  therefore,  is 
hardly  ever  decisive ;  it  barely  gives  approximate  indi- 
cations of  the  strength  of  the  rival  forces,  which  are 
so  far  merely  mustered. 

During  the  first  ballots  the  great  object  of  the  as- 
pirants and  their  champions  is  to  wear  out  their  rivals, 
especially  the  favourites,  to  disable  the  eminent  aspi- 
rants, in  order  to  clear  the  ground.  It  is  only  a  spar- 
ring match;  votes  are  given  to  aspirants  and  with- 
drawn from  them;  are  borrowed  for  one  ballot  and 
scrupulously  returned  at  the  next.  On  their  side,  the 
favourites,  as  well  as  the  aspirants  of  the  second  class, 
try  to  gain  the  votes  of  the  humble  aspirants,  to  "get 
their  strength."  When  the  delegates  who  arc  favour- 
able to  them  have  satisfied  themselves,  after  a  few 
ballots,  that  their  own  candidates  have  no  prospect  of 
success,  they  go  over,  with  a  quiet  conscience,  into  the 
camp  of  a  more  fortunate  aspirant.  But  they  must 
discern  well  the  winner,  they  must  join  the  ranks  of  the 
most  "available  candidate." 

The  general  conditions  of  "availability"  are  already 
familiar  to  us,  and  it  need  only  be  added  that  the 
aspirant  to  the  Presidency  must  combine  them  in  the 
highest  degree  in  all  that  concerns  the  negative  quali- 
fications for  the  position.  As  for  the  others,  if  the 
aspirant  has  a  certain  amount  of  popularity,  if  he  is  per- 
sonally "magnetic,"  so  much  the  better,  that  will  be  a 
good  card  in  the  game.  His  physique  is  not  imma- 
terial either.  His  political  position,  perhaps  a  very  poor 
one,  is  capable  of  being  advantageously  made  up  for 


THE   NATIONAL  CONVENTION  155 

by  that  of  his  State.  If  this  latter  is  a  doubtful  State, 
in  which  the  parties  are  evenly  balanced,  it  may  not  be 
able  to  resist  the  temptation  of  having  one  of  its  sons 
in  the  Presidency,  and  may,  on  this  occasion,  give  his 
party  a  majority,  which  majority  will,  perhaps,  be 
decisive  for  the  victory  of  that  party  in  the  whole 
Union,  if  the  State  is  a  large  one  like  New  York,  for 
instance,  disposing  of  thirty-seven  votes  in  the  Electoral 
College.  A  State  of  this  kind  is,  consequently,  looked 
on  as  a  "pivotal"  State,  and  the  aspirant  who  belongs 
to  it  is  ipso  facto  an  available  candidate. 

It  may  well  happen,  and  more  often  than  not  it  does,  Dark 
that  after  several  ballots  none  of  the  favourites  sue-  °^^' 
ceeds  in  detaching  enough  votes  from  his  rivals  to 
obtain  a  majority.  This  is  the  moment  for  the  "dark 
horses"  to  appear  on  the  course.  They  must  not  fore- 
stall this  moment;  if  they  come  forward  at  the  first 
ballots  to  try  conclusions  with  the  favourites,  they  run 
the  risk  of  being  hopelessly  beaten  at  once.  Their 
merit  resides  precisely  in  the  character  of  makeshift 
which  they  possess;  and  they  can  only  turn  it  to 
account  when  a  feeling  of  weariness  comes  over  the 
assembly. 

72.  Each  ballot  is  followed  with  the  utmost  anxiety  Demonstra- 
by  the  whole  assembly.  During  the  roll-call  of  the  ^^^^^^^ 
States  the  adherents  of  the  various  aspirants  applaud 
and  utter  shouts  of  delight  as  soon  as  a  delegation  an- 
nounces that  it  votes  for  their  man.  When  the  result  of 
the  ballot  is  proclaimed,  an  explosion  of  enthusiasm, 
often  ending  in  a  grand  uproar,  greets  a  rise  in  the 
total  of  votes  obtained  by  an  aspirant.  If  the  rise  is 
accentuated  at  the  following  ballots,  the  crowd  of  dele- 


156  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

gates  and  spectators  becomes  delirious.  More  or  less 
unearthly  shrieks,  cries  of  animals,  hats  thrown  into  the 
air,  red  umbrellas  opened,  flags  and  banners  frantically 
waved,  start  the  pandemonium  afresh.  The  standard 
of  the  State  to  which  the  aspirant  in  question  belongs, 
planted  in  front  of  the  seats  of  its  delegates,  is  pulled 
up,  and  in  a  twinkling  it  is  surrounded  by  the  stand- 
ards of  several  other  States,  which  salute  it,  and  all 
form  a  procession,  which  marches  several  times  round 
the  hall  along  its  unencumbered  passages.  The  sitting 
is  practically  interrupted.  At  the  next  ballot,  the  hero 
of  this  manifestation  has  perhaps  lost  some  votes,  and 
the  star  of  another  aspirant  has  suddenly  risen;  with 
the  fickleness  that  belongs  to  crowds,  the  convention, 
forgetting  the  man  whom  it  cheered  barely  half  an 
hour  back,  rushes  madly  after  the  new  momentary 
favourite  of  fortune.  The  uncertainty  as  to  the  final 
result  continues  down  to  the  ballot  in  which  an  aspirant 
who  already  holds  a  good  position  is  reinforced  by  an 
important  group  of  delegates,  who  give  up  their  as- 
pirant or  aspirants. 
The  This  change  of  front,  which  soon  grows  like  an 

"break."  avalanche,  constitutes  the  "crisis"  or  "break,"  and 
raises  the  excitement  of  the  audience  to  its  highest 
pitch.  With  nerves  strained  to  the  utmost,  the  public 
awaits  the  dramatic  moment  from  the  second  ballot 
onward,  and  says  to  itself  on  each  occasion:  "It  will 
come  this  time."  As  soon  as  the  "break"  takes  place, 
the  whole  assembly  has  an  epileptic  fit,  stamping  on 
the  floor,  yelling,  carrying  round  standards  in  a  pro- 
cession, etc.,  in  the  way  with  which  we  are  familiar. 
The  politician  whose  influence  has  brought  about  the 


THE   NATIONAL   CONVENTION  157 

break  will,  of  course,  be  in  good  odour  with  the  can- 
didate when  the  latter  has  become  President;  he  can 
count  upon  an  embassy  or  some  other  "good  thing." 

Sometimes  the  ballot  in  which  the  "crisis"  has  taken 
place  is  the  last,  sometimes  one  or  two  more  ballots 
are  required  to  gather  a  majority  round  the  name  of 
the  lucky  winner ;  but  his  success  grows  more  marked 
with  each  moment,  and  a  little  sooner  or  later  he  will 
"be  landed."  When  his  triumph  appears  tolerably 
certain,  a  sort  of  panic  seizes  on  the  delegates  who  had 
hitherto  voted  for  other  aspirants,  and  they  rush  to 
join  the  winner  in  a  wild  race,  which  is  called  the 
"stampede."  One  after  another,  they  are  in  a  hurry  The  "stam- 
to  retract  their  vote  before  the  ballot  is  closed.  Many  P^^^-" 
changes  in  the  votes  are  no  longer  of  use  to  the  winner, 
who  already  has  his  majority;  but  delegates  who  want 
to  "get  on  his  band  wagon"  make  them  all  the  same, 
in  the  hope  of  establishing  a  claim  on  the  future  Presi- 
dent. As  soon  as  the  result  of  the  last  ballot  is  an- 
nounced, the  champion  of  one  of  the  defeated  aspirants 
proposes  to  the  convention  to  make  the  nomination  of 
their  fortunate  rival  unanimous.  The  motion  is  carried, 
a  grand  uproar  of  the  regulation  kind,  with  the  war- 
dance  of  the  standards,  greets  the  happy  event,  the 
band  strikes  up  "Hail  to  the  Chief,"  and  the  assembly 
goes  mad  for  half  an  hour  or  so. 

73.    But  there  remains  the  selection  of  a  candidate  Selection 
for  the  Vice- Presidency.     This  task  does  not  detain  ?f/^^^    . 

''  Vice-Fresi- 

the  convention  long;    not  that  the  aspirants   to  the  dent, 
second  dignity   are  less  numerous,   but  because  the 
assembly  is  already  exhausted,  and  because  it  is  not  in 
the  habit  of  attaching  much  importance  to  the  post  of 


158  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

Vice-President,  whose  influence  in  the  government  of 
the  Union  and  the  distribution  of  offices  is  nil.  The 
conventions  bestow  the  honour  as  a  consolation  stakes 
on  one  of  the  defeated  aspirants  to  the  Presidency,  or 
on  a  citizen  of  a  different  part  of  the  country  from  that 
to  which  the  candidate  adopted  for  the  chief  magis- 
tracy belongs.  If  the  latter  comes  from  a  State  in  the 
West,  the  Vice-Presidency  is  given  to  an  Eastern  man 
to  silence  the  jealousy  of  the  populations  of  the  East. 
It  is  desirable  that  this  person  should  also  be  very 
rich,  "a  man  with  a  barrel,"  so  that  he  can  contribute 
a  large  sum  to  the  expenses  of  the  election  campaign; 
and  often  the  place  is  one  for  a  millionaire.  The 
procedure  for  the  selection  of  the  candidate  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  is  just  the  sanie  as  for  the  Presidency : 
roll-call,  introduction  of  the  aspirants  in  high-faluting 
speeches  in  which  they  appear  surrounded  by  a  halo 
of  virtue  and  glory;  several  consecutive  ballots,  and 
the  shouts  of  the  crowd;  but  these  latter  already  be- 
tray a  certain  weakness  and  lassitude,  the  arms  move 
mechanically,  all  the  voices  are  hoarse. 

At  last,  after  a  session  of  several  days,  the  end  is 
reached ;  the  convention  adjourns  sine  die.  All  is  over. 
As  you  step  out  of  the  building  you  inhale  with  relief 
the  gentle  breeze  which  tempers  the  scorching  heat  of 
July;  you  come  to  yourself;  you  recover  your  sen- 
sibility, which  has  been  blunted  by  the  incessant  up- 
roar, and  your  faculty  of  judgment,  which  has  been 
held  in  abeyance  amid  the  pandemonium  in  which  day 
after  day  has  been  passed.  You  collect  your  impres- 
sions, and  you  realize  what  a  colossal  travesty  of  popu- 
lar   institutions   you   have   just   been   witnessing.     A 


THE   NATIONAL   CONVENTION  159 

greedy  crowd  of  office-holders,  or  of  office-seekers,  dis- 
guised as  delegates  of  the  people,  on  the  pretence  of 
holding  the  grand  council  of  the  party,  indulged  in,  or 
were  the  victims  of,  intrigues  and  manoeuvres,  the 
object  of  which  was  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  greatest 
Republic  of  the  two  hemispheres,  —  the  succession  to 
the  Washingtons  and  the  Jeffersons.  With  an  elaborate 
respect  for  forms  extending  to  the  smallest  details  of 
procedure,  they  pretended  to  deliberate,  and  then  passed 
resolutions  settled  by  a  handful  of  wire-pullers  in  the 
obscurity  of  committees  and  private  caucuses;  they 
proclaimed  as  the  creed  of  the  party,  appealing  to  its 
piety,  a  collection  of  hollow,  vague  phrases,  strung 
together  by  a  few  experts  in  the  art  of  using  meaning- 
less language,  and  adopted  still  more  precipitately  with- 
out examination  and  without  conviction;  with  their 
hand  upon  their  heart,  they  adjured  the  assembly  to 
support  aspirants  in  whose  success  they  had  not  the 
faintest  belief;  they  voted  in  public  for  candidates 
whom  they  were  scheming  to  defeat.  Yielding  only  to 
their  self-interest  or  to  fear,  they  submitted  without 
resistance  to  the  pressure  of  the  galleries  masquerading 
as  popular  opinion,  and  made  up  of  a  claque  and  of  a 
raving  mob  which,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
could  only  be  formed  if  the  inmates  of  all  the  lunatic 
asylums  of  the  country  had  made  their  escape  at 
the  same  time.  And  all  the  followers  of  the  party, 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  are  bound,  on  pain  of 
apostasy,  to  vote  for  the  choice  of  that  assemblage. 

Yet,  when  you  carry  your  thoughts  back  from  the 
scene  which  you  have  just  witnessed  and  review  the 
line  of  Presidents,  you  find  that  if  they  have  not  all 


l6o  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

been  great  men  —  far  from  it  —  they  have  all  been  hon- 
ourable men ;  and  you  cannot  help  repeating  the  Ameri- 
can saying :  "  God  takes  care  of  drunkards,  of  little 
children,  and  of  the  United  States  ! "  On  second  thought 
you  find  of  course  some  earthly  saving  power.  That 
is  the  power  which  resides  in  the  people  who  will  not 
vote  for  an  objectionable  man.  The  fear  of  the  people 
is  the  beginning  of  the  wisdom  of  the  politicians,  as  we 
shall  realize  after  further  discussion  of  their  ways. 

Still  the  National  Convention  remains  none  the  less  a 
distressing  sight,  and  the  last  national  conventions  of 
1908  have  exhibited  it  to  a  particularly  high  degree. 
The  question  is  therefore  seriously  considered  now  as 
to  the  expediency  of  excluding  the  public  from  the 
conventions  and  admitting  only  the  Press. 


NINTH    CHAPTER 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN 


74.   When  the  curtain  falls  on  the  conventions,  the  The  poli- 
nominations  made  by  the  rival  parties  have  to  be  sub-  *!^'^"^  ^^^® 

•'  ^  the  people. 

mitted  to  the  acceptance  of  the  sovereign  people.  Up 
to  this  point  not  much  has  been  seen  of  the  people, 
although  it  has  been  talked  of  a  good  deal ;  everybody 
quoted  its  authority,  acted  in  its  name,  took  pledges  on 
its  behalf,  but  this  everybody  was  made  up  almost  exclu- 
sively of  the  class  of  professional  politicians.  MHitherto 
the  contact  between  the  party  Organization  and  the 
electorate  has  been  very  slight;  they  were  much  less 
in  touch  with  one  another  than  is  the  case  with 
the  party  representatives  and  the  bulk  of  the  electors 
in  England.  Here  the  action  of  the  Organization  upon 
the  electorate  is  compressed  into  the  efforts  made 
during  the  brief  space  of  election  time^and  it  is  hardly 
a  figure  of  speech  to  say  that  the  American  party 
Organization  snatches  the  verdict  from  the  electorate 
at  a  single  stroke,  that  it  carries  the  position  by  a  sort 
of  furious  assault.  The  result  is  not  the  less  brilliant, 
on  the  contrary  even;  for  the  besieging  army  supplied 
by  the  American  Organization  is  infinitely  superior  to 
the  troops  of  the  English  party  organization  in  point 
of  generalship,  recruiting,  dash,  and  discipline. 
M  161 


1 62  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

The  This  is  the  proper  time  for  reviewing  that  besieging 

commhtee  ^^^Y-  We  will  begin  with  the  staff.  It  is  represented 
in  the  first  place  by  the  "national  committees"  of  each 
party  appointed  every  four  years  at  the  national  con- 
ventions. Consisting  of  one  representative  from  each 
State  and  each  Territory,  the  national  committee  num- 
bers above  fifty  members.  Its  principal  duty  consists 
of  conducting  the  presidential  campaign  throughout  the 
Union.  After  the  close  of  the  campaign  the  national 
committee  falls  into  a  state  of  suspended  animation  to 
revive  at  the  expiration  of  three  years  on  the  approach 
of  the  next  national  convention,  which  it  will  convene 
and  of  which  it  will  take  charge  until  the  latter  is 
definitively  organized.  The  chairman  only  of  the  com- 
mittee may  be  considered  as  a  standing  power  and 
may  exert  political  influence,  if  he  is  a  strong  man.  A 
tendency  in  that  direction  manifested  itself  during 
McKinley's  administrations.  But  usually  the  national 
chairman  possesses  a  certain  authority  with  the  Presi- 
dent of  his  party  chiefly  in  matters  of  patronage. 
Nominally  chosen  by  the  committee,  the  chairman  is 
as  a  rule  selected  by  the  presidential  candidate.  He 
need  not  be  at  all  a  member  of  the  committee,  he  may 
be  an  outsider.  The  chairman  directs  the  campaign 
from  his  head-quarters  in  Chicago  or  New  York  assisted 
by  a  small  executive  committee.  The  members  of  the 
national  committee  generally  work  on  the  spot  in  their 
respective  States,  conducting  all  the  operations  like 
a  commander  of  a  corps  under  orders  from  head- 
quarters. The  chairman  wields  the  power  of  a  com- 
mander-in-chief with  regard  to  everybody.  However, 
it  is  the  tact  and  other  diplomatic  virtues  which  he 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  1 63 

must  possess  in  a  high  degree  that  make  his  power  a 
reality.  As  a  matter  of  course,  he  must  be  above  all 
a  great  organizer. 

The  most  delicate  of  the  duties  devolving  on  the 
chairman,  or  on  the  chairman  jointly  with  the  treasurer, 
is  to  procure  the  sinews  of  war.  He  appeals  for  funds 
to  the  trusty  followers  of  the  party,  to  the  clients  of  the 
party,  if  the  latter  has  any  special  ones,  such  as,  for 
instance,  the  manufacturers  who  benefit  by  the  protec- 
tionist policy  of  the  Republican  party;  the  intimate 
friends  of  the  candidates  for  the  Presidency  and  the 
Vice-Presidency  who  are  well  off  are  certainly  not  for- 
gotten. A  clever,  ingenious,  and  energetic  chairman 
always  manages  to  fill  the  chest.  But  the  important 
thing  is  to  make  a  good  use  of  the  contents.  Like  a 
general  who  chooses  the  strategic  points  for  the  dis- 
position of  his  troops,  the  national  chairman  distributes 
and  skilfully  brings  to  bear  his  pecuniary  resources  on 
the  different  points  of  the  immense  electoral  battlefield 
formed  by  the  Union.  The  powers  of  the  chairman  in 
all  matters  of  finance  are  discretionary;  he  is  account- 
able to  no  one,  all  the  more  since  a  good  deal  of  the 
expenditure  incurred  could  not  bear  the  light  of  day. 
At  least  that  was  the  case  till  the  last  presidential  cam- 
paign of  1908,  The  legitimate  duties  of  the  national 
committee,  which  also  absorb  very  large  sums,  consist 
mainly  in  organizing  the  oratorical  and  literary  cam- 
paign on  behalf  of  the  "ticket"  of  the  party  over  the 
whole  area  of  the  Republic.  The  methods  of  this 
propaganda  will  be  examined  further  on  in  detail. 

75.  Alongside  the  national  committee,  each  of  the 
two  great  parties  possesses  another  central  committee 


164 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Congres- 
sional 
committee. 


Local 
committees. 


at  Washington,  —  the  congressional  committee,  com- 
posed of  members  of  Congress  chosen  by  their  party 
colleagues  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the 
Senate.  Its  duty  is  to  ensure  the  success  at  the  congres- 
sional elections  of  the  candidates  who  bear  the  party 
label.  Considerations  of  general  policy  are  even  more 
foreign  to  the  congressional  committee  than  to  the 
national  committee.  Its  powers  expire  with  the  legis- 
lature from  which  it  emanates.  I  The  congressional 
committee  intervenes  actively  in  the  election  campaigns 
in  the  "ofif  years,"  that  is  to  say,  those  years  in  which 
the  congressional  elections,  which  take  place  every  sec- 
ond year,  do  not  coincide  with  the  presidential  election. 
At  the  request  of  the  candidates  it  sends  them  speakers 
and  "political  literature"  for  distribution,  and,  perhaps, 
money  as  well.  On  the  opening  of  the  presidential 
campaign  the  congressional  committee  places  all  its 
resources  at  the  disposal  of  the  national  committee, 
foregoing  its  own  initiative  even  in  what  concerns  the 
congressional  elections,  for  in  the  "presidential  year" 
all  the  elections  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  contest  for  the 
Presiden'cyJ 

[jThe  powers  which  the  national  committee  wields  for 
the  whole  Union  are  exercised  in  a  subordinate  capacity 
in  the  States  by  the  State  committee,  and  in  each  county 
by  the  county  committee.  These  three  committees 
multiplied  by  the  number  of  the  counties,  which 
amounts  to  about  2500,  form  so  many  rays  running  from 
the  centre  to  the  electoral  circumference.  The  person- 
nel of  these  committees  contains  only  the  officers  of  the 
army  of  the  party  Organization,  from  the  generals  down 
to  the  subalterns.     Below  them  extend  the  vast  battal- 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  1 65 

ions  of  the  privates  and  non-commissioned  officers 
enrolled  in  the  local  committees  of  the  city  wards,  of 
precincts  and,  perhaps,  also  of  the  "school  districts." 
The  total  of  these  troops,  of  all  the  parties  combined, 
may  be  estimated,  of  course  quite  approximately,  at 
from  900,000  to  1,000,000  men,  exclusive  of  the  corps 
of  officers  supplied  by  the  higher  committees,  which 
contains  not  less  than  50,000  persons^  While  in  Eng- 
land, the  militants  of  the  party  Associations  are  almost 
all  amateurs,  inspired  solely  by  sentimental  considera- 
tions, and  submitting  to  discipline  only  so  far  as  it  ap- 
pears to  them  compatible  with  the  needs  of  the  cause 
and  with  their  personal  dignity,!  in  the  United  States 
almost  all  those  who  compose  the  immense  army  of  the 
party  Organization  are  experts,  trained  in  their  business, 
and  spurred  by  the  incentive  of  personal  interest  which 
bends  the  will  and  silences  all  conflicting  sentiments. 
In  fact  they  are,  for  the  most  part,  themselves  candidates 
for,  or  aspirants  to,  places,  or  they  are  trying  to  get 
them  for  relations  or  friends.  They  are  obliged,  in 
order  to  compass  their  ends,  to  work  for  the  other  candi- 
dates of  the  party,  all  along  the  line,  with  the  same  zeal 
which  they  would  display  in  their  own  behalf ;  for  each 
candidature  is  only  an  atom,  a  line  of  the  ticket  of  the 
party  which  the  average  elector  accepts  or  rejects  in  a 
lumpT]  In  voting  for  Mr.  Taft  as  President,  he  will  vote 
at  the  same  time  for  the  Republican  candidates  for  the 
other  offices,  those  of  State  Governor,  Congressman, 
etc.,  to  the  end  of  the  list.  Between  all  the  committees, 
therefore,  from  the  national  committee  down  to  that  of  a 
remote  corner  of  the  Far  West,  there  arises  a  co-opera- 
tion founded  on  the  closest  community  of  interest. 


1 66  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

This  army  constitutes  the  regular  and  permanent 
machinery  of  the  Organization.  It  is  increased,  for  the 
term  of  the  campaign,  by  numerous  auxiliaries,  who  may 
be  divided  into  three  categories :  humble  servants  en- 
gaged by  the  committees  and  paid  by  the  job ;  individ- 
uals who  come  forward  out  of  devotion  to  the  party  or 
enthusiasm  for  the  cause ;  and,  lastly,  auxiliaries  formed 
into  companies,  troops  organized  for  the  occasion.  The 
most  common  type  of  these  corps  of  free-lances  is 
afforded  by  the  clubs. 
Political  76.7Llhe  American  political  clubs  last  only  for  the 

clubs.  campaign.     Permanent  political  clubs  are  not  entirely 

unknown  in  the  States.     In  New  York,  in  Philadelphia, 
and  in  several  other  important  centres,  there  are,  of 
course,  large  party  clubs,  but  they  are  rather  social  than 
Select  party  political,  and,  like  all  American  clubs,  are  more  aris- 
clubs.  tocratic  than  the  English  clubs.     The  absence  of  a 

nobility,  of  an  upper  class  created  by  the  law  and  recog- 
nized by  the  national  manners,  is  made  up  for  in  certain 
American  cities  by  coteries,  which  form  into  magic 
circles,  to  which  admittance  can  be  gained  only  by  show- 
ing one's  credentials,  or  what  they  are  pleased  to  consider 
as  such.  This  tendency  to  social  exclusiveness  has  not 
spared  the  select  political  clubs.  But  with  that  they 
are  much  less  homogeneous  than  the  English  clubs  as 
regards  the  political  views  of  their  members,  because 
social  considerations  fill  too  large  a  place  in  the  choice 
of  the  members,  and  especially  because  the  latter  are 
getting  to  change  their  party  more  and  more  frequently, 
while  remaining  members  of  the  club.  Lastly  social 
relations  in  the  United  States,  while  sometimes  painfully 
narrow,   are  superficial,  and,  amid  the  kaleidoscopic 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  1 67 

existence  of  the  Americans,  lack  the  stability  which 
would  give  them  the  property  of  a  political  cement. 

Alongside  these  political  clubs,  which  are  little  dis- 
tinguishable from  non-political  ones,  there  are  others, 
in  several  large  cities,  of  a  much  less  exalted  kind,  whose  Politicians' 
members  are  almost  all  politicians,  and,  for  the  most  *^^^^^- 
part,  politicians  of  low  degree.  Apart  from  the  mercena- 
ries of  politics,  the  "workers,'!  they  are  frequented  only 
by  the  men  who  buy  their  influence,  such  as  contractors 
for  public  works  and  government  purveyors.  The  most 
distinguished  of  these  clubs,  if  it  is  permissible  to  use  the 
epithet,  is  the  Democratic  Club  of  Tammany  Hall  in  New 
York.  The  subscription  to  the  clubs  is  purely  nominal ; 
the  expenses  are  almost  always  borne  by  a  head  politi- 
cian, a  "leader,"  who  makes  the  club  the  citadel  from 
which  he  directs  the  political  operations  necessary  for 
getting  hold  of  an  elective  post  for  himself  or  for  his 
favourite  candidate.  The  clubs  of  the  politicians  com- 
bine politics  and  pleasure,  by  organizing  balls  in  winter, 
excursions  in  summer,  outings,  "chowder  parties,"  or 
"clam  bakes";  but  even  in  these  cases,  the  politicians 
keep  to  themselves  and  their  own  set  without  attracting 
the  bulk  of  the  electorate. 

^t  the  end  of  the  eighties  of  the  last  century  attempts 
were  made  to  develop  the  system  of  permanent  clubs 
and  to  recruit  their  members  on  a  broader  basis. 
The  Republicans  formed  clubs  all  over  the  territory, 
and  combined  them  into  national  federation,  the  Re- 
publican National  League.  In  reality  most  of  the 
clubs  have  only  a  nominal  existence,  —  hardly  one  club 
in  a  hundred  has  premises  of  its  own  ;  generally  they 
hire  a  room  for  the  occasion,  and  their  meetings  are 


i68 


DEMOCRACY   AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Saloons  as 

political 

clubs. 


Campaign 
clubs. 


few  and  far  between.  The  members  are,  to  a  great 
extent,  office-seekers  and  young/ men  attracted  by  the 
titles  of  president,  vice-president,  and  other  dignities 
which  the  clubs  provide  for  their  youthful  vanity.  The 
Democrats  have  followed  the  example  set  by  their  rivals, 
but  their  National  Association  of  clubs  collapsed  some 
time  ago  owing  to  internal  divisions.  The  Republican 
National  League,  however,  is  not  much  more  of  a  living 
body^ 

77.  jThere  are,  however,  permanent  clubs,  and  in 
very  large  numbers,  which,  without  bearing  this  name, 
and  without  having  any  ostensible  connection  with 
politics,  wield  very  great  electoral  influence.  These 
are  the  drinking-saloons,  especially  in  the  large  cities. 
With  the  lower  orders,  who  spend  their  leisure  time  in 
the  bars,  the  saloon-keeper  is  "guide,  philosopher, 
and  friend."  The  party  organizations  and  the  candi- 
dates therefore  find  him  their  most  valuable  helper  for 
nxgnipulating  the  electorate.'] 

ijQi  course,  the  drinking-saloons  take  in  only  the  dregs 
of  the  population.  To  lay  hand  on  the  higher  strata  of 
the  voters,  the  election  organizers  form  for  the  dura- 
tion of  the  campaign  "campaign  clubs"  of  citizens  who 
in  ordinary  times  pay  little  or  no  heed  to  politics.  The 
great  date  of  the  presidential  election  reminds  them  of 
their  civic  duty.  They  respond  piously  to  this  sacred 
appeal  and  enrol  themselves  in  a  club  flying  the  colours 
of  their  party  or  of  its  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 
For  the  two  or  three  months  that  the  campaign  will 
last,  they  meet,  perhaps,  every  evening,  they  listen  to 
speeches  which  glorify  their  candidate,  they  sing  political 
songs,  absorb  enthusiasm  for  the  party  ticket,  and  diffuse 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  1 69 

this  enthusiasm  around  them,  in  the  club  and  outside  it. 
This  action  and  reaction  comes  all  the  easier  to  them 
since,  very  often,  they  do  not  present  fortuitous  aggrega- 
tions of  atoms  brought  together  in  a  haphazard  way, 
but  groups  formed  in  accordance  with  more  or  less  nat- 
ural affinities,  due  to  a  common  occupation,  race,  or 
religion.  Thus  each  Presidential  campaign  is  the 
signal  for  an  outburst  of  clubs.  Republican  and  Demo- 
cratic, of  commercial  travellers,  of  clerks  of  dry-goods 
stores,  of  lawyers,  of  merchants,  of  railroad  em- 
ployees; of  workmen's  clubs  formed,  not  by  wards, 
but  by  workshops,  the  workmen  in  a  large  factory 
dividing,  perhaps,  into  two  clubs,  the  one  Republi- 
can, the  other  Democratic;  clubs  of  coloured  men; 
Irish,  German,  Jewish,  Polish,  Swedish  clubs;  and 
even  Republican  or  Democratic  "cyclists'  brigades. '^^ 

1  A  special  kind  of  campaign  clubs  are  "  marching  Marching 
clubs,"  with  the  particular  duty  of  walking  about  in  *^^"^^* 
procession  and  making  a  nofee  in  the  streets  and  squares, 
in  honour  of  the  party  and  its  candidates.  We  have 
already  come  across  clubs  of  this  kind  in  the  city  where 
the  National  Convention  was  held,  and  where  they  carried 
on  a  gymnastic  and  vocal  propaganda  in  favour  of  the 
presidential  aspirants.  Their  usefulness  to  the  parties  is 
of  a  twofold  kind:  they  help  greatly  to  keep  up  "en- 
thusiasm," and  they  gather  to  their  standard  young 
electors  attracted  by  the  quasi-military  organization  of 
these  clubs;  their  members  wear  a  special  uniform 
and  hold  varied  grades,  such  as  captain  and  colonel. 

Of  late  years  the  craze  for  campaign  clubs  has  spread 
to  the  schools,  the  colleges.  In  almost  every  college  or 
university  there  are  formed,  for  the  duration  of  the 


and 
politics. 


170  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

campaign,  clubs  of  students  to  help  th^  parties  by 
speaking  or  by  other  forms  of  propaganda. 

The  number  of  the  electors  enrolled  in  the  canipaign 
clubs  is  undoubtedly  very  considerable,  and  can  hardly 
be  below  1,500,000  or  2,000,000.  If  to  these  volunteer 
forces  are  added  the  paid  combatants,  they  will  all  to- 
gether, with  the  regular  army  of  the  party  organiza- 
tions, make  up  the  enormous  total  of  4,000,000  out  of 
an  electoral  population  of  15,000,000  or  18,000,000. 
That  is  to  say,  there  is  one  militant,  entering  heart  and 
soul  into  the  fray,  to  every  four  or  five  electors^ 
Women  78.   The  European  visitor,  familiar  with  the  great 

role  of  helpers  of  the  regular  party  organizations 
played  by  women  in  England,  would  look  for  the  same 
in  the  United  States.  Being  aware  of  the  exceptionally 
independent  position  enjoyed  by  women  in  America, 
he  would  expect  that  they  would  have  plunged  into  mili- 
tant politics  even  far  more  extensively  and  ardently. 
In  reality,  nothing  of  the  kind  takes  place.  After  half  a 
century  of  victorious  progress  in  the  social  sphere, 
American  women  have  remained  outside  political  life, 
both  because  they  have  not  shown  a  strong  enough 
wish  to  get  into  it  themselves,  and  because  of  the  re- 
sistance offered  by  the  men.  The  agitation  in  favour 
of  the  "rights  of  women"  no  doubt  began  earlier 
in  the  United  States  than  in  England,  towards  the  close 
of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century^  but  it  en- 
countered only  indifference  and  hostility.  L.Till  this  day 
it  is  only  in  a  few  rudimentary  States  of  the  Far  West 
(Wyoming,  Utah,  Colorado,  Idaho)  that  women  have 
obtained  political  rights,  and  in  another  western  State 
(Kansas)  the  rights  of  municipal  electors,  whereas  in 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  171 

England  women  are  entitled  to  vote  in  all  local  elections 
throughout  the  country.  The  question  of  woman 
suffrage  is  raised  by  its  champions  with  tenacity,  from 
year  to  year,  in  the  different  State  legislatures ;  but  it  is 
invariably  negatived,  either  by  one  or  other  House  of 
the  legislature,  or,  when  its  advocates  have  succeeded 
in  carrying  their  vote  and  obtaining  the  assent  of  the 
executive,  by  the  people  which  has  to  ratify  constitu- 
tional changes. 

But  on  the  contrary  in  the  domain  outside  of  politics 
public  opinion  and  the  legislature  have  shown  themselves 
much  more  ready  to  make  way  for  women.  In  more 
than  half  of  the  States  of  the  Union  women  are  entitled 
to  vote  at  the  elections  for  school  officers,  and  to  be 
elected  to  those  posts.  They  have  been  gradually  ad- 
mitted to  embrace  such  vocations  and  professions  as 
they  please,  up  to  that  of  the  bar,  and  even  of  the  min- 
istry in  certain  churches.  The  traditional  inequalities 
sanctioned  by  common  law  in  the  civil  status  of 
women,  and  especially  of  married  women,  have  been 
abolished  in  one  State  after  another.  In  social  relations 
woman  was  already  almost  the  superior  of  the  man, 
being  treated  by  him  with  an  exceptional  deference  which 
has  a  faint  savour  of  the  chivalry  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Carefully  sparing  the  woman,  in  the  well-to-do  or  even 
barely  well-to-do  classes,  so  much  as  the  knowledge  of 
his  anxieties  about  the  struggle  for  existence;  taking 
upon  himself  alone  all  care  and  all  responsibility  — 
the  man  ensures  for  her  leisure  which  woman  often 
knows  how  to  make  a  good  use  of  by  devoting  herself  to 
mental  culture.  The  pursuit  of  this  culture,  even  when 
of  a  superficial  kind,  leads  women  to  fall  back  upon 


172  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

themselves  rather  than  turn  upon  society.  Moreover, 
they  have  no  personal  grievances  to  urge  against  so- 
ciety. Those  among  them  who  incline  to  active  life 
find  a  noble  employment  for  their  faculties  in  the  moral 
and  philanthropic  movements  to  which  American 
women  have  rendered,  and  continue  to  render,  conspicu- 
ous service.  "Practical  politics"  is  the  last  thing  to 
tempt  their  ambitions ;  it  has  been  made  too  contemp- 
tible bv  the  "machines"  and  the  "bosses." 
Women  79-  /  In  the  four  States  where  women  have  the  suf- 

m  party  frage  tKey  are  participating  more  or  less,  rather  less,  in 
the  electoral  battles  and  squabbles  alongside  of  the 
men.  But  in  the  rest  of  the  Union  they  have  taken  very 
little  interest  in  party  politics  till  quite  recently.  There 
were  in  the  old  parties  a  few  instances  of  women  sent 
as  delegates  to  conventions  in  the  Far  West.  In  the 
election  campaigns  women  were  rarely  met  with  can- 
vassing for  candidates.  Nor  did  they  make  their  ap- 
pearance on  the  stump,  except  in  the  West,  where  the 
spectacle  of  a  woman  on  the  platform  did  not  shock 
the  simple  folk  of  the  new  districts;  and  the  greater  the 
distance  from  the  East,  the  less  was  this  sight  unu- 
sual. The  presidential  campaign  of  1896  was  marked 
by  rather  important  changes  in  all  these  respects. 
Both  in  the  East  and  in  the  West  a  good  many  women 
"took  the  stump"  with  ardour.  In  several  places  the 
women,  like  the  men,  organized  themselves  in  campaign 
clubs.  It  would  appear  even  that  "marching  clubs" 
were  formed,  composed  of  women,  which  manoeuvred 
in  the  streets  in  military  fashion  with  the  precision  of 
old  stagers. 

Since  that  celebrated  campaign  the  part  of  women  in 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  1 73 

electioneering  has  somewhat  increased,  though  not  to  a 
very  appreciable  extent.  For  the  duration  of  the  cam- 
paign women's  clubs  are  formed,  —  there  is  even  a 
League  of  Republican  Women's  Clubs.  Women  some- 
times canvass  and  distribute  literature.  At  the  last 
presidential  campaign,  of  1908,  New  York  and  even 
Boston  had  their  meetings  with  women  speakers^ 
Much  more  important  is  the  part  played  by  women  in 
the  "third  parties,"  recruited  from  social  classes  in- 
adequately representative  of  society  at  large,  such  as 
the  Prohibitionists  and  Socialists.  The  Prohibitionist 
party,  which  is  more  a  philanthropic  organization 
aiming  at  the  suppression  of  the  sale  of  liquors,  was 
the  first  to  countenance  the  co-operation  of  women.  In 
their  conventions  women  delegates  were  always  a  com- 
mon feature.  The  Socialists,  who  have  recently  come 
to  the  front  in  American  politics,  muster  a  good  number 
of  women  in  their  fighting  ranks.. 

I  While  the  immense  majority  of  women  keep  aloof  Other 
from  party  politics,  many  are  beginning  to  play  a  great  ^^^^^'^j^^ 
r61e  in  the  contests  of  public  life  on  a   non-partisan  of  women, 
ground  or  even  in  opposition  to  the  regular  parties. 
Guided  by  the  same  feelings  which  incline  women  to 
social  action  in  the  philanthropic  sphere,  a  number  of 
women  descend  into  the  arena  to  fight  for  the  purifica- 
tion of  municipal  life  contaminated  by  party  politics; 
they  form  even,  for  this  purpose,  special  organizations 
confined  to  their  own  sex  and  take  an  active  part  in 
election  campaignsT?    At  the  same  time  women   are 
displaying  great  energy  in  improving  the  sanitary  con- 
ditions, in  beautifying  the  city  and  the  village,  giving 
care  to  the  tenement-house  and  to  the  public  parks  and 


174  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

play-grounds.  Organized  all  over  the  Union  into  clubs 
.  and  federations  of  clubs,  they  endeavour  by  concerted 
action  to  watch  and  to  influence  legislation  on  industrial 
conditions  affecting  women  and  children;  they  secure 
better  factory  laws,  enactments  on  child  labour,  on 
school  matters,  etc.  And  that  influence  of  women  on 
legislation  is  growing. 
Electoral  ^°-    ^^  much  for  the  contingents  of  the  party  Organi- 

registration.  zation  and  its  auxiliary  troops.  The  contingents  of  the 
voters  which  they  have  to  encounter  are  formed  under 
the  law  which  lays  down  the  electoral  qualifications. 
Nevertheless,  their  real  composition  is,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, subject  to  the  influence  of  the  party  Organization, 
intervening  in  the  preliminary  procedure  necessary  for 
establishing  each  individual  elector's  right  to  vote.  This 
procedure  consists  of  a  periodical  registration  of  all  the 
electors.  While  manhood  suffrage,  pure  and  unadul- 
terated, predominates  in  the  United  States,  in  several 
States  of  the  Union  more  conditions  are  attached  to  the 
right  to  vote  than  in  many  a  country  of  universal  suf- 
frage in  Europe.^  Although  complicated  with  these 
limitations  on  the  right  to  vote,  the  electoral  registra- 
tion laws  of  America  are  not  as  a  rule  very  stringent. 

*  Apart  from  the  general  conditions  of  age  and  residence,  some 
States,  such  as  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  and  most  of  the  South- 
ern States,  require  the  payment  of  a  poll-tax,  or  of  municipal  taxes 
(South  Carolina);  Rhode  Island  gives  the  municipal  vote  only  to 
persons  rated  in  respect  of  property  of  a  minimum  value  of  $134; 
the  constitution  of  Connecticut  imposes  a  moral  and  intellectual 
qualification:  "a  good  moral  character  and  the  ability  to  read  an 
article  of  the  constitution  or  of  the  codes";  Massachusetts,  Maine, 
Delaware,  and  Wyoming  also  insist  on  the  elector  being  able  to  read 
the  constitution;  California,  since  1893,  and  New  Hampshire,  since 
1903,  require  the  same  from  the  new  voters;  most  of  the  Southern 
States  have  recently  inserted  in  their  revised  constitutions  similar 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  1 75 

In  England  electoral  registration  is  hampered  with 
so  many  restrictions  and  formalities  that  the  elector 
is  rather  prevented  from  making  use  of  his  right ;  in 
the  United  States,  the  law  was  anxious  to  give  the 
electors  every  facility  for  exercising  their  rights,  at  the 
risk  of  admitting  even  non-qualified  persons. 

[For  a  considerable  time  preliminary  registration  was 
unknown  in  the  United  States;  every  citizen  who 
claimed  to  be  qualified  was  allowed  to  give  his  vote  with- 
out further  ado,  unless  his  right  was  contested  there  and 
then,  in  which  case  the  point  was  decided  forthwith. 
This  regime  soon  gave  rise  to  grave  abuses,  which 
became  worse  with  the  development  of  the  large  cities, 
especially  in  New  York,  where  it  was  no  longer  possible 
to  know  who  was  who  in  the  ever-growing  multitude 
of  electors.  The  steady  influx  of  European  imimgrants 
in  its  turn  increased  the  opportunities  for  fraud/l  The 
electoral  contests  were  decided  by  persons  who  were  not 
qualified  to  vote  or  who  were  not  even  naturalized  Amer- 
icans. The  introduction  of  a  preliminary  system  for 
ascertaining  the  real  electors  had  evidently  become  a 
vital  necessity,  and  yet  it  was  opposed  as  an  anti-demo- 
cratic and  anti-republican  measure. 

8 1.  At  the  present  moment  there  are  still  some  States  The  laws 
which  have  abstained  from  passing  laws  on  this  subject ;  ^!^  registra- 
in  two  States  (Texas,  Arkansas)  registration  is  even 
prohibited  by  the  constitution;  lastly,  the  State  of  In- 
diana, which  had  a  law,  no  longer  has  one.  According 
to  the  laws  in  force  in  the  various  States,  which  pre- 
sent a  very  considerable  variety,  a  periodical  census 

provisions  requiring  that  the  electors  shall  be  able  to  read  or  even 
explain  the  text  of  the  constitution,  framed  with  the  sole  object  of 
keeping  the  negroes  away  from  the  poll. 


176  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

of  all  the  electors  is  held  on  the  eve  of  the  presidential 
elections,  or  before  the  general  elections  in  the  States, 
or  every  year  (in  New  Orleans,  for  instance),  or,  on  the 
contrary,  at  much  longer  intervals,  every  ten  years  (as  in 
Boston).  The  electors  have  to  appear  in  person  before 
the  registration  officers  and  state  their  qualifications. 
When  they  have  been  questioned  as  to  these  qualifica- 
tions and  examined  in  the  reading  of  the  constitution,  in 
places  where  the  law  requires  this  attainment,  they  may 
be  required  to  confirm  their  declarations  by  an  oath 
which  is  administered  to  them  there  and  then.  If  the 
declarations  made  by  the  electors  before  the  registration 
officers  are  not  contested,  the  persons  making  them 
are  duly  inscribed  on  the  register.  Every  elector  can 
appeal  to  the  courts  of  law  against  a  refusal  to  make 
an  entry  or  against  a  wrong  entry.  Besides  this,  to 
facilitate  the  detection  of  mistakes,  the  complete  lists, 
or,  at  all  events,  the  lists  of  the  contested  electors,  are 
published  and  posted  up.  Only  in  a  few  States  are  the 
lists  drawn  up  otherwise  than  on  the  strength  of  the  per- 
sonal declarations  of  the  electors;  in  some  of  these 
(Massachusetts,  excepting  the  city  of  Boston)  the  gov- 
ernment officials,  especially  the  assessors  of  taxes,  them- 
selves undertake  the  duty  of  collecting  and  verifying  the 
necessary  information,  by  analyzing  the  lists  of  tax- 
payers or  by  making  house-to-house  visits.  The  per- 
sons in  charge  of  electoral  registration  always  bear  an 
official  character,  but  in  the  majority  of  cases  they  are 
representatives  of  the  parties,  chosen  by  the  public 
authority  in  equal  numbers  from  each  of  the  two  great 
parties,  or  even  appointed  directly  by  the  committees 
of  the  parties.      This  connection  of  the  registration 


tration, 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  177 

officers  with  the  political  parties  puts  constantly  their 
independence  and  honesty  to  a  severe  test, 

82.   The  committees  of  the  parties  intervene  very  The  po- 
actively  in  the  resristration  business.     On  the  eve  of   ^'^^^^^ 

parties 

the  registration,  they  send  their  adherents  reminders,  interfering 
which  mention  the  date  and  place  of  registration ;  they  with  regis- 
look  up  defaulters  and  bring  them  in  person  before  the 
registrars ;  they  pay  the  poll-tax  on  behalf  of  electors  in 
places  where  it  is  required  for  obtaining  the  vote ;  ^  they 
instruct  a  lawyer  to  conduct  the  appeals  of  their  followers 
in  the  courts;  and,  lastly,  in  a  good  many  cases,  they 
help  to  bring  on  the  register  creatures  of  their  own  who 
have  no  right  to  be  there.  Indeed,  the  extraordinary 
facilities  for  registration  put  a  sort  of  premium  on  these 
frauds:  to  wit  the  personal  declaration  of  the  elector 
which  Kes  at  the  root  of  the  system,  and  which  is  ac- 
cepted until  disproved,  the  shortness  of  the  terms  of 
residence,  and  the  share  which  the  parties  too  often 
have  in  the  appointment  of  the  registration  officers.  One 
of  the  favourite  expedients  resorted  to  for  obtaining 
fraudulent  registration  is  "colonization"  of  electors: 
vagabonds  and  tramps  are  imported  into  the  city  and 
housed  in  lodgings  for  a  few  days  to  manufacture  a  sham 
legal  domicile  entitling  them  to  be  put  on  the  register. 
Often  this  formality  even  is  dispensed  with :  fictitious 
names  and  addresses  are  given.  Or,  again,  the  same 
persons  present  themselves  for  registration  in  several 
election  districts,  or  even  several  times  in  the  same  dis- 
strict  under  different  names. 

*  To  prevent  them  from  so  doing  recent  laws  enacted  in  some 
States  require  the  payment  of  the  poll-tax  a  good  while  before  the 
election. 

N 


178  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

and  with  Along    With    registration,    the   party    organizations 

naturahza-     devote   themselves,   in   much   the  same  way,   to    the 
tion.  .... 

naturalization  of  aliens  likely  to  increase  their  electoral 
contingents.  They  make  them  go  through  all  the  ne- 
cessary formalities,  pay  the  naturalization  fees  for  them, 
and  keep  them  warm,  so  to  speak,  for  the  coming  elec- 
tion. Not  unfrequently  the  committees  or  the  candi- 
dates interested  used  to  procure  naturalization  for  aliens 
not  entitled  to  such  by  the  law.  The  reader  will  remem- 
ber how  Tweed's  Ring  manufactured  naturalized  electors 
en  masse  in  New  York.  These  frauds  were  much  facili- 
tated by  the  extreme  liberality  of  the  American  natural- 
ization laws,  and  by  the  careless  way  in  which  the  courts 
of  law  verified  the  qualifications  of  the  applicants.  In 
certain  States,  the  party  committees  got  aliens  admitted 
just  before  the  elections  in  regular  batches,  a  hundred  or 
more  per  day,  of  people  who  barely  understood  English. 
The  Federal  law  requires  a  previous  residence  of  five 
years  for  obtaining  the  status  of  an  American  citizen, 
but  in  a  good  many  States  (in  fifteen)  the  immigrants 
are  allowed  to  vote  after  a  term  of  residence  in  the 
State  varying  from  three  to  eighteen  months  on  a 
simple  declaration  of  their  intention  to  get  naturalized. 
Besides  this,  even  in  States  where  definitive  naturaliza- 
tion is  required,  it  is  sufficient  to  obtain  it  on  the  eve 
of  the  election  to  have  the  right  to  take  part  therein. 

Some  of  these  evils  have  been  remedied  by  the  latest 
Federal  law  of  1906  on  naturalization.  That  law  enacts 
that  the  applicant  for  naturalization  must  be  able  to 
speak  English ;  that  there  can  be  no  final  hearing  on  the 
petition  until  at  least  ninety  days  have  elapsed  from  the 
time  the  petition  is  filed ;  and,  what  is  still  more  impor- 


THE  ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  179 

tant,  that  every  petition  must  be  submitted  for  prelimi- 
nary investigation  to  special  examiners,  established  for 
that  purpose  by  the  act.  These  latter,  supplied  with  the 
information  filed  on  every  immigrant  in  the  Bureau  of 
Immigration  in  Washington,  will  be  able  to  collect  all 
the  data  for  the  decision  of  the  court,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
getting  of  the  naturalization  by  false  testimony. 

S^.  The  real  campaign  begins  by  reconnoitring  the  Preliminary 
electoral  ground  and  making  an  estimate  of  the  forces  P°^^^- 
available  on  each  side.  All  over  the  Union,  in  each 
locality,  polling  lists  are  drawn  up  showing  which  party 
each  elector  is  going  to  vote  for ;  if  he  has  not  made  up 
his  mind  or  has  not  given  an  indication  of  his  choice,  he 
is  ranked  among  the  doubtful.  Special  agents,  paid 
by  the  party  committees,  scour  the  country  to  assist 
in  this  task  and  to  make  a  more  exhaustive  political 
enquiry  about  each  particular  elector;  they  take  down 
a  quantity  of  details  relating  to  his  person,  his  race,  his 
religion,  his  business,  his  circle  of  acquaintance,  his 
pecuniary  position,  to  whom  he  owes  money  or  is  under 
any  obligation.  In  short,  a  sort  of  political  and  social 
survey  is  made  for  each  locality.  The  data  supplied 
by  it  are  grouped  and  transmitted  from  one  committee 
to  another,  along  the  whole  line,  up  to  the  national  com- 
mittee. Each  committee  will  derive  from  it  useful 
information  for  determining  its  policy  in  its  respective 
territorial  area :  the  national  committee  will  pass  over 
all  the  States  in  which  the  preliminary  poll  has  dis- 
closed-a  very  large  majority  favourable  or  hostile  to  the 
party  and  to  its  candidate  for  the  Presidency;  it  will 
concentrate  all  its  efforts  on  the-»States  in  which  the 
majority  is  inconsiderable  or  uncertain,  where  the  parties 


l8o  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

are  so  well  matched  in  point  of  numbers  that  a  small 
group  of  electors  may  turn  the  scale  in  favour  of  either 
side.  On  the  other  hand,  while  the  State  may  be  a 
hopeless  one  for  the  national  committee,  the  local  com- 
mittees may  plunge  into  the  fray  with  all  their  might  in 
the  several  districts  of  that  State  in  which  the  party  is 
able  to  return  congressmen,  members  of  the  local  leg- 
islature, and  other  office-holders. 

Generally  there  are  two  polls,  if  not  everywhere,  at 
least  in  the  "doubtful  States" :  the  first  goes  on  in  the 
beginning  of  election  time,  in  the  month  of  September, 
and  serves  to  find  out  both  the  politics  of  the  voters, 
and  who  are  entitled  to  register;  the  second  poll  is 
completed  at  least  a  fortnight  before  the  election  and 
furnishes  hints  for  the  dispositions  to  be  made  at  the 
eleventh  hour.  Owing  to  the  exceptional  care  which 
was  always  bestowed  on  the  taking  of  the  poll,  its 
results  used  to  be  considered  very  trustworthy.  But 
for  some  years  past  they  have  become  more  and  more 
tainted  with  uncertainty,  owing  to  the  abrupt  oscilla- 
tions in  the  political  sympathies  of  the  electors,  who 
have  grown  more  capricious  and  more  independent. 
Then  the  voters  conceal  their  politics  more  than  before. 
Again  the  poll  is  a  very  expensive  affair,  and  it  can 
with  difficulty  be  afforded  not  only  in  the  "  off  years," 
but  even  in  presidential  campaigns  when,  as  in  1908, 
there  is  little  money  in  the  chest  of  the  national  com- 
rnitiP^s. 
Meetings.  [^4.  Foremost  among  the  electoral  campaign  weapons 
is  the  public  meeting.  Eloquence  is  lavished  on  the 
electors  in  a  continuous  series  of  meetings  of  every  kind, 
from  mass-meetings  which  attract  thousands  of  people, 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  l8l 

to  small  gatherings  in  out-of-the-way  country  spots, 
attended  by  a  handful  of  farmers.  Appealing  even  to 
the  lowest  strata  of  the  electorate,  who  can  hardly  be 
reached  by  print,  the  meetings,  in  fact,  do  succeed  in 
attracting  voters  of  every  degree.  How  many  of 
them  are  really  influenced  by  the  meetings,  is  another 
question.  However,  it  is  only  in  the  "presidential 
years"  that  this  great  flocking  together  of  voters  occurs. 
In  the  "off  years"  the  stump  is  more  or  less  idle,  and  . 
special  circumstances  are  necessary  to  make  the  election 
campaign  become  "a  speaking  campaign"  in  these 
years.  The  meetings  are  got  up  by  the  committees ;  this 
is  one  of  the  most  important,  if  not  the  most  impor- 
tant, of  their  duties.  The  national  committee  supplies 
eminent  orators,  who  have  a  national  reputation,  and  Speakers, 
who  travel,  by  its  direction,  from  one  State  to  another, 
to  make  the  great  hits ;  the  State  committees  procure 
the  less  important  speakers.  The  best  speakers  are 
engaged,  like  tenors,  at  so  much  a  night  for  a  certain 
number  of  evenings,  or  by  the  week,  and  are  more  or 
less  highly  pai^ [True,  they  have  met  recently  with  a 
mighty  competitor  in  the  phonograph,  which  repro- 
duces before  audiences  the  great  speeches  of  the  presi- 
dential candidates  themselvesr\  The  speakers  who 
come  next  in  order  of  merit  only  get  their  travelling 
expenses  and  perhaps  a  small  allowance  for  their  time. 
Lastly,  the  great  majority  give  their  services  gratui- 
tously in  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  share  of  the  booty, 
after  the  victory,  in  the  form  of  some  place  or  other. 
lYet  the  number  of  paid  speakers  is  on  the  increase. 
The  speakers  are  taken  principally  from  among  politi- 
cians and  lawyers;  they  also  include  journalists  and 


1 82  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

business  men ;  one  meets,  too,  with  clergymen  who  are 
sometimes  more  successful  on  the  stump  than  in  the 

puloit} 

ytie  candidates,  of  course,  have  their  place  marked 
on  the  list  of  orators,  which,  however,  is  not  the  most 
important  one;  they  are  lost  in  the  crowd  of  speakers 
who  have  to  fight  for  the  ticket,  especially  at  the  general 
election  of  the  presidential  year,  when  all  the  notabili- 
ties of  the  party  descend  into  the  arena.  Senators  of  the 
United  States,  State  governors,  or  even  ex-Presidents 
of  the  Republic.  However,  some  of  the  candidates,  the 
aspirants  for  the  higher  offices,  such  as  State  governor, 
or  mayor,  usually  cut  a  prominent  figure  in  the  cam- 
paign. The  candidates  for  the  highest  office,  for  the 
Presidency,  till  auite  recently,  on  the  contrary,  kept 
carefully  bac§^  Lit  was  considered  undignified  for  a 
man  who  aspired  to  become  the  head  of  the  nation  to 
enter  the  lists  in  person.  But  that  is  so  no  longer.  The 
presidential  candidates  are  stumping  the  country  all 
the  time.  They  run  from  one  State  to  another,  from 
East  to  West,  from  North  to  South,  in  a  "whirlwind 
tour,"  and  speak  before  audiences  flocking  as  to  a 
show,  until  they  become  hoar^e^  Along  with  his 
marching  orders  the  speaker  pretty  often  receives  from 
the  committee  ammunition,  in  the  form  of  arguments, 
of  facts,  of  statistics.  It  not  infrequently  happens  that 
the  committee  asks  a  speaker  sent  on  an  important 
campaign  to  submit  to  it  beforehand  his  speech,  which 
it  will  touch  up,  perhaps,  pointing  out  what  should  be 
said  and  what  left  unsaid.  VSometimes  there  have  been 
at  the  head-quarters  regular  training  schools  for  the 
campaign  speakers/) 

The  committe^stake  care  to  suit  the  speakers  to  the 


THE  ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  183 

audiences.  To  meetings  mainly  composed  of  Irishmen 
speakers  of  the  same  race  are  told  off;  the  vast  ag- 
glomerations of  Germans  and  Scandinavians,  which 
are  found  in  so  many  States,  are  harangued  in  Ger- 
man or  in  Swedish  or  Norwegian.  The  committees  do 
not  forget  either  that  speakers  who  would  be  successful 
before  country  audiences  may  cut  a  very  poor  figure 
in  the  cities,  and  vice  versa.  The  "hard-headed"  dis- 
tricts must  be  dealt  with  by  speakers  who  can  appeal 
to  reason,  who  can  present  good  logical  arguments  ;^  in 
other  places  it  will  be  enough  to  excite  passions  and 
prejudices  and  to  tickle  the  innate  sense  of  humour  of 
the  Americans. 

85.  It  is  eloquence  of  this  last  kind  which  is  the  stump 
predominant  type  in  the  party  meetings,  and  which  o'^atory. 
has  given  the  terms  of  "stump"  and  "stump  oratory" 
their  peculiar  meaning.  The  fact  is  that  beneath  a 
frigid  exterior,  under  a  reserved  and  taciturn  appear- 
ance, the  American  is  a  highly  sensitive,  emotional,  and 
excitable  being.  A  telling  hit  fires  the  American,  an- 
other sends  him  on  the  opposite  tack.  Rhetorical  lan- 
guage, sonorous  and  grandiloquent  phrases,  take  him 
at  once.  By  calling  up  before  him  the  grand  image 
of  his  native  land,  of  the  great  American  people,  one 
is  always  sure  to  move  him  or  make  him  think  that  he 
is  moved.*  The  speaker  who  has  a  lot  of  funny  stories, 
who  has  a  good  supply  of  jokes  and  can  use  them  in  a 
telling  way,  is  perhaps  a  still  greater  party  asset  in  the 
campaign. 

^  Hence  the  advice  which  a  comic  paper  puts  in  the  mouth  of  an 
old  politician  giving  hints  to  his  son  who  is  about  to  make  his  first 
appearance  on  the  stump:  "Stick  to  the  American  eagle  and  to  our 
own  dear  native  land  as  much  as  possible." 


184  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

Decline  \_Political  eloquence,   of  the  true  kind,  which  once 

°^  ??^*  shone  with  such  lustre  in  the  United  States,  has  steadily 
oratory.  declined  for  the  last  fifty  yea^j  The  Clays,  the  Web- 
sters,  the  Calhouns,  have  left  no  successors;  their  tradi- 
tions are  only  a  reminiscence  of  the  past.  The  great 
political  eloquence  departed  with  the  old  leadership 
towards  the  close  of  the  epoch  which  preceded  the 
Civil  War.  It  was  one  of  the  attributes  of  that  leader- 
ship. Nor  was  it  only  the  giants  whose  names  have 
just  been  mentioned  who  wielded  over  their  fellow- 
citizens  the  sublime  supremacy  of  speech;  they  shared 
it  with  numbers  of  less  important  men.  They  all  ex- 
erted it  on  every  important  occasion,  as  a  duty  to  dis- 
charge to  their  fellow-citizens,  by  enlightening  their 
conscience,  by  guiding  their  conduct. 
I  The  social  and  political  conditions  which  undermined 
the  old  leadership  have  also  deteriorated  representa- 
tive government,  which  in  declining  inevitably  drags 
down  with  it  political  eloquenc^J  With  the  develop- 
ment of  the  system  of  secret  committees  and  party 
caucuses,  in  Congress  as  well  as  in  the  State  legisla- 
tures, and  with  the  advent  of  the  Machine,  which  filled 
the  assemblies  with  inferior  men,  these  bodies  had 
ceased  to  be  deliberative  assemblies;  it  was  no  use 
making  a  display  of  eloquence  when  the  vote  was 
decided  beforehand  by  the  resolution  of  the  party 
caucus  or  of  the  committee ;  the  most  cogent  reasoning, 
the  most  solid  debate,  was  of  no  avail  against  the  word 
of  command  of  an  influential  boss.  The  speaker  had 
not  to  take  pains,  he  was  talking  only  "  for  Buncombe."  * 

V^During  the  celebrated  debate  on  the  "Missouri  Compromise," 
in  182 1,  which  settled  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  Territories,  a 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  1 85 

And  before  long  the  House  thought  it  could  and  should 
dispense  with  these  speeches,  by  authorizing  its  mem- 
bers to  insert  in  the  official  reports,  the  Congressional 
Record,  the  harangues  which  they  had  not  delivered, 
but  had  only  announced  in  a  few  words;  they  were 
supposed  to  "develop  their  remarks"  in  the  printed 
text.  Nor  had  the  members  of  the  legislative  assem- 
blies any  need  to  be  good  speakers  to  be  returned  by 
the  electors;  ''getting  the  delegates"  became  far  more 
important;  and  it  was  to  the  cultivation  of  that  art, 
and  not  of  the  art  of  oratory,  that  embryo  politicians 
heiiceforth  devoted  themselves. 

jThe  wonderful  rise  of  the  Press,  with  a  power  of 
expansion  unparalleled  in  any  other  country,  has  helped 
in  its  turn  to  diminish  political  eloquence.  It  has 
driven  the  old  purveyors  of  political  thought  into  the 
background;  and  the  latter  naturally  try  rather  to 
adapt  themselves  to  the  new  state  of  things,  to  serve 
the  public  expeditiously  and  cheaply^hat  -is  to  say, 
with  little  expenditure  of  intellect  on  the  part  of  either 
the  producers  or  the  consumers.  (JLsistly,  the  very 
nature  of  the  questions  which  interest  public  opinion 
at  the  present  day  is  not  venr  favourable  to  a  lofty  and 
aspiring  style  of  eloquence/)  During  the  forty  years 
which  preceded  the  Civil  War,  the  controversies  bore 
upon  the  very  foundations  of  public  order,  on  the 
rights  of  the  people,  on  the  dignity  of  man  outraged  in 

representative  of  a  North  Carolina  district  which  included  the  county 
of  Buncombe  insisted  on  speaking,  in  spite  of  the  advice  of  his 
friends.  "It  is  for  Buncombe,"  he  said  to  them,  "that  I  want  to 
speak,"  From  that  time,  "to  speak  for  Buncombe"  passed  into  a 
proverb,  denoting  speeches  with  an  objective  other  than  the  convinc- 
ing of  the  audience^ 


1 86  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

the  slave.  These  questions,  which  thrilled  the  public 
mind,  gave  place,  after  the  war,  to  economic  problems, 
concerned  with  tariffs,  currency,  etc.,  which  turn  upon 
considerations  if  not  of  a  sordid  at  all  events  of  a  very 
prosaic  kind. 
Stump  86.    It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  stump  eloquence, 

?^^°^y.  anything  but  lofty,  has  of  late  years  come  under  the 
salutary  influence  of  the  serious  discussion  of  economic 
facts  and  ideas.  "Spread-eagleism"  is  going  out  of 
fashion;  public  speaking  becomes  more  argumenta- 
tive. Again,  the  stump  has  benefited,  without  any 
merit  on  its  part,  by  the  decline  of  parliamentary 
eloquence:  eminent  or  distinguished  speakers,  for 
whom  there  is  not  much  room  in  Congress,  take  their 
eloquence  out  on  the  stump  in  important  conjunctures. 
This  fact  has  become  of  real  significance  in  the  course 
of  the  last  decades.  I  want  to  make  still  another 
general  reservation  in  regard  to  the  character  of  politi- 
cal eloquence  in  America.  There  are  in  the  United 
States  orators  of  real  distinction,  of  lofty  intellect  and 
great  talent ;  but  one  must  hasten  to  add  that  they  are 
extremely  rare,  and  some  of  them  do  not  always  com- 
bine with  these  gifts  that  nobility  of  political  character 
without  which  the  most  remarkable  orator  is  only  a 
Orators  and  gladiator.  Most  of  the  speakers  who  are  engaged  by 
gladiators,  ^j^g  party  committees  to  perform  feats  of  oratory  before 
the  assembled  multitude  call  up  to  the  mind  precisely 
this  image  of  gladiators.  The  very  euphemisms  with 
which  the  language  of  the  day  describes  stump  ora- 
tors,' by  calling  them  "spellbinders,"  and  saying,  "let 
loose  the  spellbinders,"  recall  the  combatants  of  the 
arena. 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  187 

Below  the  spellbinders  there  are  in  the  service  of 
the  committees  other  oratorical  gladiators,  of  a  very 
modest  kind,  hardly  deserving  the  title,  but  who  are 
none  the  less  useful.  To  this  category  belong  work- 
shop and  factory  talkers,  workmen  who  have  the  gift  of 
the  gab  and  who  are  paid  by  the  committees  to  harangue 
their  comrades.  Other  speakers,  equally  humble,  are 
told  off  to  speak  at  street-crossings  to  crowds  which 
they  gather  round  them.  They  often  meet  with  op- 
ponents, who  are  only  accomplices,  and  the  two  sides 
carry  on  a  sham  debate,  which  of  course  always  ends 
in  the  discomfiture  of  the  party  opposed  to  that  for 
which  the  accomplices  are  workings 

[Genuine  debates  between  two  opponents  are  becom-  no  "joint 
ing  more  and  more  rare.  Formerly  these  "joint  de-  debates." 
bates"  were  tolerably  common;  they  were  almost  a 
public  institution  in  the  South.  But  they  were  also 
known  in  the  North  and  West.  The  most  celebrated 
of  these  debates,  which  took  place  in  1858,  between 
Lincoln  and  Douglas,  then  rival  candidates  in  Illinois 
for  the  post  of  Senator,  was  followed  with  rapt  atten- 
tion by  the  whole  Union ;  they  were  discussing  before 
the  country  the  burning  question  of  slavery.  After  the 
Civil  War,  the  face-to-face  debate,  which  enabled  the 
citizens  to  grasp  then  and  there  the  arguments  pro  and 
con  presented  by  public  men,  disappeared  almost  en- 
tirely. In  the  South,  however,  beginning  as  soon  as 
the  border-state  of  Maryland,  the  joint  debate  still  re- 
appears sometimesTj 

ithe  meetings  are  attended  almost  exclusively  by  the  Not  to 
faithful  followers  of  the  party;  not  only  the  adherents  ^^t  to  "raise 
of  the  opposite  party  but  even  the  ** doubtful"  electors  enthusiasm." 


1 88  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

keep  away  from  them.  If  the  election  campaign  is  a 
particularly  fierce  one,  the  opponents  go  to  the  meeting 
to  create  obstruction,  which  reaches  a  high  pitch  of 
turbulence,  but  is  not  marked  by  personal  violence  or 
abuse.  The  object  and  effect  of  American  political 
meetings  is  not  so  much  to  instruct  and  convert  as  to 
edify  the  audience,  to  strengthen  them  in  the  party 
creed.  The  great  expedient  of  the  American  stump  is  to 
"raise  enthusiasmiy  (Yet  the  value  for  propagandist 
purposes  which  the  meetings  possess  in  this  respect,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  parties,  is  declining,  for  the  intellectual 
standard  c^  the  American  voters  is  getting  higher,  — 
they  are  not  so  easily  caught  by  the  artifices  of  the 
stump.  Besides  the  action  of  the  meetings  is  not  abso- 
lutely confined  to  the  production  of  "enthusiasm."  In 
the  course  of  a  presidential  campaign  so  many  speeches 
are  made,  the  question  of  the  day  is  turned  inside  and 
out  to  such  an  extent,  that  it  is  impossible  for  the 
electors  not  to  learn  something.  The  great  mass  only 
carries  away,  it  is  true,  extremely  hazy  notions,  but  a 
small  section  ends  by  getting  more  or  less  insight  into 
the  problems  under  discussio^)^ 
The  Press  87.    While  the  meetings  are  intended  to  take  the 

used  by  \^yj[^  of  ^j^g  electors  by  storm,  down  to  the  least  culti- 
vated, the  more  intelligent  electors  are  canvassed  by 
means  of  the  Press,  newspapers,  pamphlets,  leaflets,  etc. 
LJn.  the  eyes  of  the  organizations,  the  newspapers  do 
the  most  execution.  The  role  of  the  Press  as  a  party 
instrument  dates  from  the  rise  of  the  political  wire- 
pullers in  the  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 
and  it  asserted  itself  definitively  under  JacksonT^By 
way  of  reward,  the  Press  was  allowed  from  the  outset 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  1 89 

a  share  in  the  profits  of  the  spoils  system.  After  the 
Civil  War,  when  the  importance  of  the  Press  increased . 
with  the  general  development  of  the  country,  the  co- 
operation of  the  newspapers  became  still  more  valuable, 
and  it  rose  in  price ;  editors  qr^proprietorsj^OngJieii^s- 
papers  were^appointedoffhajid^^  of 

lEe  first  clasg^o  Pa.rjs^JBerlin,  St.  Petersburg. 

x-n  the  case  of  the  big  newspapers  the  party  com- 
mittees need  not  trouble  themselves,  they  will  do  their 
duty.  But  with  regard  to  the  thousands  of  small 
country  papers  there  is  an  elaborate  system  of  getting 
them  to  publish  what  the  conunittees  want.  The 
national  committees  work  through  the  commercial 
houses  which  supply  the  small  papers,  too  poor  to  have 
contributors  of  their  own,  with  ready  copy  of  every 
description.  At  the  beginning  of  the  election  cam- 
paign and  even  before  that  they  offer  them  free  of 
charge  plate  matter — stereotyped  columns  of  news  or 
articles  which  might  be  put  straight  into  the  printing 
press^  Or  again  they  use  the  patent  inside,  they  supply 
the  country  editors  with  ready  prints:  the  sheets  are 
printed  on  one  side  in  some  central  point  to  be  for- 
warded to  all  their  customers  around,  who  will  fill  up 
the  other  side  with  local  news  and  advertisements. 
The  copy  is  supplied  by  the  national  committees. 
These  latter  also  issue  during  the  campaign  a  bulletin 
containing  editorials,  interviews  and  other  items,  which 
is  supplied  to  any  newspaper  willing  to  use  them.  By 
those  methods  about  twelve  thousand  country  dailies 
and  weeklies  (more  than  7000  Republican  papers  and 
about  4500  Democratic  ones)  are  regularly  fed  with 
party  stuffj 


ipO  DEMOCRACY   A2^   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

The  effect  is  not  very  great  on  intelligent  readers. 
The  influence  of  the  newspapers  is  on  the  decline. 
There  is  less  confidence  in  their  truthfulness.  Edi- 
torials are  much  less  read  than  before.  They  no  longer 
shape  public  opinion.  The  intellectual  leadership  has 
passed  to  the  magazines,  the  weeklies  and  the  month- 
JigS*  The  public  look  to  the  daily  papers  for  the 
news.  But  there  is  a  way  of  presenting  the  news  ^i  it 
may  be  coloured  according  to  requirements.  That  is  a 
powerful  weapon,  which  is  largely  used  and  abused  in 
the  interest  of  political  wire-pullers  as  well  as  of  big 
businesses,  without  the  public  suspecting  anything.  [Qn 
the  other  hand  there  has  grown  up  within  the  last  years 
the  practice  of  using  newspapers  by  direct  advertising 
—  committees  and  candidates  buy  space  even  in  inde- 
pendent and  opposition  papers?^ 
Educational  iWhile  for  the  party  committees  the  papers  may  be 
theT)est  medium  for  reaching  the  voters,  they  are 
not  of  great  value  as  an  agency  for  instructing  and 
enlightening  the  electorate.  That  indeed  is  the  last 
thing  for  which  the  papers  care;  they  have  given  up, 
along  with  the  old  style  of  dogmatizing,  of  lecturing 
the  reader,  the  loftier  duties  of  the  Press ;  they  consider 
themselves  first  of  all  as  purveyors  of  facts  and  they  vie 
with  one  another  in  presenting  them  in  a  way  that  aims 
at  the  imagination  of  the  readers  and  panders  even  to 
their  lower  instincts  and  tastes.  The  fitness  of  things, 
the  sense  of  proportion,  are  in  many  papers  con- 
spicuous by  their  absence.  True,  the  sensational 
journalism  through  its  very  exaggerations  has  been  in 
those  last  years  somewhat  helpful  in  awakening  the 
public  conscience  deeply  sunk  in  lethargy?)  However, 


value  of 
the  Press. 


//  OF  THE  V> 

((university  ); 

THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  I9I 

it  cannot  play  the  part  of  a  regular  educational  agency 
in  the  economy  of  society.  Again  there  is  a  most  hope- 
ful phenomenon  manifesting  itself,  which  will  later  be 
dwelt  on  more  fully,  that  is  the  rise  of  an  independent 
Press,  not  attached  to  party,  with  a  wholesome  influ- 
ence which  is  likely  to  grow  and  to  develop.  (But  the 
dependence  of  the_daiLy  Press,  on  money  interests  and 
its  deficiency  as  a  politicaleducator  of  the  country  are 
still  predominant  featuresA 

88.  (The  character  of  the  newspapers  is  the  more  Lack  of 
important  that  the  Press  is  the  chief  source  of  political  political 

.  .  .    ,        ,  ,  .  ,       ,       .         .  instruction. 

mstruction  of  the  electoral  masses,  outside  election  time. 
In  the  interval  between  the  elections  the  party  organi- 
zations take  but  little  pains  to  disseminate  political 
facts  and  ideas  among  the  electors^  as  is  done  by  the 
party  Associations  in  EnglandJ  Nor  do  the  American  . 
electors  possess  the  chances  offered  by  the  periodical  j 
meetings  of  English  M.P.'s  with  their  constituents.  To 
keep  in  the  good  graces  of  their  electors,  the  English 
members  of  Parliament  are  obliged  to  "come  down" 
as  often  as  possible  and  make  speeches ;  while  defending 
the  policy  of  the  party  with  which  they  are  connected, 
they  have  to  discuss  the  legislative  measures  which  that 
party  brings  forward  or  opposes.  The  members  of 
Congress,  and  still  more  those  of  the  State  legislatures, 
are  relieved  from  this  obligation  by  the  fact  that  they 
owe  their  seats  in  the  first  place  to  the  Machine  or  to 
their  skill  in  *' getting  the  delegates";  besides,  the 
shortness  of  their  elective  term  .makes  it  almost  useless 
for  them  to  present  themselves  to  their  electors  before 
the  next  election,  at  which  they  will  more  often  than 
not  be  prevented  from  standing  again,  owing  to  the 


192  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

rule  of  rotation  in  office.  Moreover,  public  men,  as  a 
rule,  rather  avoid  facing  public  opinion ;  they  shirk  stat- 
ing their  views  on  the  questions  which  interest  it;  for 
fear  of  compromising  themselves  they  remain  "non- 
committal" :  rightly  or  wrongly  they  hold  that  under  a 
democratic  government  it  is  not  permissible  for  those 
who  wish  to  be  honoured  with  the  confidence  of  the 
people  to  have  views  of  their  own,  or,  at  all  events,  to 
put  them  forward;  that  it  is  better,  with  their  ear 
always  bent  towards  the  ground,  to  steer  their  course  by 
the^  shifting  views  of  the  multitude. 
^eft  without  guidance  by  those  who  could  or  should 
have  supplied  them  with  a  clue  to  the  labyrinth  of 
political  affairs,  American  citizens  have  no  means  either 
of  acquiring  the  rudiments  of  political  knowledge  before 
beginning  life,  that  is  to  say,  at  school.  Political  and 
historical  studies  have  been  much  neglected  in  Ameri- 
can instruction.  These  studies  have  made  marked 
progress,  during  the  last  two  decades,  in  the  sphere  of 
higher  education,  but  not  so  much  in  secondary  and 
almost  none  in  elementary  schools.  However,  earnest 
efforts  have  been  made  within  the  last  years  to  fill  up 
that  gap.  In  most  of  the  high  schools  instruction  is 
now  given  in  civics.  But  that  teaching  is  too  formal ; 
it  is  almost  exclusively  concerned  with  the  anatomy  of 
the  body  politic?) 
Deficiency  No  doubt.  Special  instruction  in  this  or  that  subject, 
of  critical  g^gj^  •£  j^  bears  directly  upon  politics,  is  not  enough  to 
make  the  citizen ;  it  is  the  cultivation  of  the  intelligence 
in  general  that  improves  the  judgment  of  the  future 
elector ;  it  is  the  sum  total  of  what  is  taught  in  the  school 
that  develops  it.     Are  not  the  American  schools,  then, 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  I93 

very  good?  They  gxe^so,  certainly.  But  the  manner 
and  the  methods  with  which  instruction  is  given  in 
these  schools  provoke  strong  criticism  on  the  part  of 
competent  Americans,  who  are  of  opinion  that  the 
teaching  almost  exclusively  aims  at  cramming,  at  ex- 
ercising the  memory  at  the  expense  of  the  faculties  of 
observation,  of  analysis,  and  of  reasoning;  that  this 
teaching  is  of  too  formal  and  mechanical  a  kind. 
Then,  too  much  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  practical,  the 
utilitarian  side  of  education.  The  spirit  of  the  educa- 
tion given  at  school  is  not  less  strongly  animadverted  on 
by  Americans  of  sound  judgment :  according  to  them, 
that  education  strives  to  develop  in  the  young  the  "  pa-_ 
triotic"  sentiment  in  its  narrow  aspect,  which  takes  no 
account  of  the  rest  of  humanity  and  is  apt  to  look  on 
other  countries  and  other  nations,  if  not  with  contempt, 
at  all  events  with  an  indulgent  pity.  The  national  self- 
sufficiency  or  conceit  thus  drilled  into  the  youthful 
mind,  in  its  turn,  does  not  much  help  to  form  the 
political  judgment. 

The  dissemination  of  knowledge  outside  the  school, 
Jectures  and  courses  for  adults  and  several  other  fa- 
cilities for  improving  their  mind  have  taken  an  extraor- 
dinary development  all  over  the  country.  But  the  cul- 
ture thus  offered  hardly  reaches  the  lowest  straU^  of 
the  electorate;  with  but  few  exceptions  it  does  not  go 
below  what  would  be  called  in  England  the  middle 
classes.  The  discussion  of  economic  questions  intro- 
duced recently  in  the  granges  of  the  farmers  and  in 
the  labor  unions  may  give  a  stimulus  to  the  political 
education  of  the  toiling  masses. 

The  great  exertions  and  sacrifices  to  which  Ameri- 


literature. 


194  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

cans  submit  for  the  spread  of  education  have  not  been 
after  all  in  vain,  the  intelligence  of  the  masses  has  made 
and  continues  to  make  notable  progress;  their  horizon 
is  broadening,  they  are  getting  a  better  notion  of  the 
issues  of  politics,  but  without  exercising  the  critical 
and  discerning  spirit  necessary  to  save  them  from  the 
thousand  and  one  pitfalls  which  beset  the  elector  whose 
vote  is  wanted. 
Political  [89.   While  working  upon  him  through  the  Press,  the 

party  organizations  endeavour  to  enlighten  the  voter 
still  more  by  adding  to  it  the  apparently  more  solid 
nutriment  of  " political  literature"  or  ''campaign  docu- 
ments." The  ''literature"  consists  of  pamphlets, 
leaflets,  posters,  handbills,  etc.,  bearing  on  the  ques- 
tions and  persons  at  stake,  and,  of  course,  composed  in 
the  interest  of  the  party.  At  each  head -quarters  there 
is  a  "literary  bureau"  with  a  staff  of  writers  who  draw 
up  the  "  campaign_documents."  The  most  important 
of  these  "documents"  is  the  speech  of  acceptance  of 
the  nomination  by  the  presidential  candidate.  That 
is  the  "kejnote"  speech,  which  at  the  very  beginning  of 
the  campaign  is  spread  broadcast  in  millions  of  copies. 
Then,  in  numbers  as  great,  pamphlets  containing 
speeches  delivered  in  Congress  are  sent  out,  not  so  much 
because  of  their  excellence  as  because  they  are  accorded 
the  postal  franchise  of  official  papers.  The  value  of 
the  several  "documents"  varies;  some  are  more  or  less 
instructive,  but  the  great  majority  consist  only  of  dec- 
lamation and  denunciation  of  the  opposite  party.  They 
are  not  much  read,  however.  The  pamphlets  are 
mainly  of  service  for  supplying  facts  and  arguments  to 
minor  speakers  and  to  the  local  debaters  who  retail  and 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  1 95 

amplify  thenK  The  great  committees  even  publish,  for 
use  in  this  way,  special  repertories,  well  got  up,  under 
the  title  of  "campaign  books"  or  " campaign_text-_ 
books."  There  is  one  category  of  pamphlet  which, 
being  not  such  dry  reading,  is  more  acceptable  to  the 
recipients,  viz.  the  biographies  of  the  candidates  for  the 
Presidency,  and  sometimes  also  for  posts  of  less  im- 
portance. These  biographies  are  composed  in  pro- 
spectus style  for  the  requirements  of  the  election  cam- 
paign and  are  known,  in  consequence,  by  the  name 
of  "campaign  lives";  they  form  a  historical  type 
of  their  own  which  has  no  resemblance  whatever  to 
Plutarch. 

\2[he  type  of  "campaign  literature"  which  is  the  most 
read,  and  which  produces  the  most  effect,  is  represented 
by  leaflets,  or  even  little  bits  of  cardboard,  with  a  few 
dogmatic  assertions  unaccompanied  by  argument.  The 
controversy  on  the  currency  system,  for  instance,  is 
settled  on  them  by  a  few  figures  stating  peremptorily 
that  under  the  gold  standard  debts  have  increased  by  so 
and  so  many  millions.  That  is  enough  for  the  elector, 
he  is  convinced :  "  I  know  it's  true,  it  comes  from  the 
national  committee."  The  greatest  success  is  obtained 
by  "pictorial  literature,"  that  is  to  say,  by  cartoons  in 
newspapers  and  by  illustrated  leaflets  and  handbills  with 
symbolic  pictures,  caricatures,  etc.,  representing,  for 
instance,  monometallism  in  the  form  of  a  man  with 
only  one  eye  and  one  leg,  and  thus  furnishing  self- 
evident  proof  of  the  absurdity  of  opposition  to  bimetal- 
lisni^As  a  large  proportion  of  the  electors  who  have 
more  or  less  recently  come  into  the  country  do  not  under- 
stand English  sufficiently,  the  "campaign  documents" 


196  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

which  are  considered  the  most  important,  big  speeches, 
small  cards  or  leaflets,  are  brought  within  their  reach 
by  translations  into  their  mother  tongue,  —  in  German, 
in  French,  in  Italian,  in  Swedish,  in  Polish,  in  Czech, 
in  Hebrew,  in  fact  in  almost  all  the  languages  of  Eu- 
rope. Provided  with  copies  of  the  electoral  register  in 
every  part  of  the  country,  the  committees  despatch  their 
*' literature"  to  all  the  electors;  but  it  is  the  ''doubtful 
electors,"  as  disclosed  by  the  canvass,  who  are  the 
special  object  of  their  attentions ;  they  overwhelm  them 
with  communications,  and  send  them  at  short  intervals 
now  a  pamphlet,  now  a  newspaper,  now  illustrated 
leaflets. 
Indepen-  ^^  particularly  grave  issues,  the  party  Organization 

dent  appeals  does  not  monopolize  the  action  intended  to  influence 
.?  ^  ^^  "  the  public  mind.  A  mobilization  of  all  the  living  forces 
of  the  nation  takes  place  along  the  whole  line.  The 
Church  itself,  whose  absolute  independence  of  the 
State  makes  it  indifferent  to  party  strife,  and  its 
branches  of  every  denomination  put  themselves  in 
motion  when  the  great  problems  of  the  day,  or  even 
the  person  of  the  candidate,  appear  to  raise  moral  ques- 
tions. The  pulpit  rings  in  that  case  with  sermons 
which  point  out  to  the  voters  their  duty.  Individual 
citizens,  more  or  less  eminent  representatives  of  social 
grpups,  ojLpiofessions,  come  forward  in  likejnanner  to 
throw  the^weight  .oL-tJieir^opinion  or  ^f_their_2restige 
_mtoJh£scale, byjneans  of  a  public  declaratipn  solicited 
by  an  interyiew^r_Qf jteJress_i}i^spon^^^ 
dressed_to  a  ne wspap en  Often  the  paper  takes  little 
plebiscites  among  these  persons  by  publishing  the  views 
of  a  group  of  college  presidents,  of  a  group  of  bankers, 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  197 

of  a  group  of  lawyers,  of  a  group  of  workmen  in  &.ome 
trade,  etc.  Although  got  up  for  newspaper  purposes,  to 
procure  copy,  these  consultations  add  to  the  mass  of 
ideas  and  opinions  put  into  general  circulation  on  the 
occasion  of  the  election  campaign.  • 


1 


\ 


TENTH    CHAPTER 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN   {concluSlOn) 

The  90.   The  means  of  propaganda  which  have  just  been 

''Chinese^      reviewed  and  which  aim,  or  are  supposed  to  aim,  at 
che  intelligence  of  the  electors,  are  very  largely  supple- 
'mented  by  others  which  appeal  to  the  senses,  and  are 
meant  to  "raise  enthusiasm."     The  reader  need  only 
^  recall  the  famous  presidential  campaign  of  *'  Tippecanoe 
Wd  Tyler  too,"  in  1840,  to  be  aware  that  the  art  of 
*•  stirring  up  the  electors  by  making  a  noise  was  at  a  very 
i^gariy  stage  brought  to  a  rare  pitch  in  the  United  States. 
i2]he  noise  is  produced  by  a  set  of  regular  devices,  to 
which  the  American  organizers  themselves  give  the  col- 
lective title  of  the  "  Chinese  business."  J 
LEoremost  among  the  usual  methods  come  the  mass- 
meetings,  whose  principal  attraction  for  the  crowd  that 
cares  little  for  political  eloquence  consists  of  musical 
interludes  executed  by  orchestras  and  choruses.    Far 
more  picturesque  are  the  processions  and  the  big  de- 
monstrations called  parades,  of  which  we  have  already 
had  a  foretaste  at  the  National  Convention.     Every  city 
and  every  rural  district  treats  itself  to  these  during  the 
campaign,  and  people  would  think  themselves  almost  dis- 
graced if  they  were  deprived  of  them.    We  are  already 
familiar  with  the  special  organization  of  "marching 
clubs,"  which  file  through  the  streets  for  the  glory  of 

198 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  '  I99 

their  party.  Fireworks,  torch-light  processions,  caval-  -^ 
cades  on  horseback  or  on  bicycles,  bicycle  orchestras, 
aquatic  parades  with  hundreds  of  boats  in  a  row, 
parades  in  the  streets  attended  by  large  contingents  of 
the  followers  of  the  party,  are  so  many  means  of  testify- 
ing to  the  enthusiasm  which  animates  its  members. 
Some  of  these  demonstrations  attain  really  gigantic  pro- 
portions, such  as  the  great  parades  in  New  York,  for 
instance,  when  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  men 
march  past  a  few  leading  members  of  the  party,  some- 
times with  the  presidential  candidate  himself  at  their 
head,  accompanied  by  bands,  flags,  and  banners,  in  the 
midst  of  a  million  spectators.  All  classes  of  the  popu- 
lation are  represented  in  the  procession,  from  the 
princes  of  finance  down  to  the  common  people;  heads 
of  business  firms  and  members  of  the  bar  fall  in,  shout- 
ing themselves  hoarse,  in  honour  of  the  candidates  of 
the  party,  just  like  ordinary  labourers.  The  ridiculous 
side  of  the  spectacle  they  present  does  not  occur  to  them 
nor  to  the  spectators  of  the  show,  —  it  is  lost  in  the 
feeling  of  duty  towards  the  party.  For  they  consider 
that  the  party  is  served  by  making  its  numerical  strength 
conspicuous,  by  conveying  an  impression  of  the  com- 
bative ardour  which  animates  its  adherents,  even  if  this 
is  achieved  by  methods  savouring  of  the  travelling  cir- 
cusy  (The  electioneering  effect  of  the  parades  and  the 
marches-past  is  beginning  to  decline.  Thanks  to  the 
spread  of  enlightenment,  those  methods  are  decidedly 
going  out  of  fashion,  as  was  manifest  in  the  last  cam- 
paigns^ 

hi^  In  the  rural  districts  the  *' Chinese  business"  pro-  in  country 
duces  perhaps  more  effect.     It  is  there  combined  with  districts. 


200  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  PARTY    SYSTEM 

the  forms  of  intellectual  action.  The  whole  neighbour- 
hood is  invited  to  a  lially,"  a  big  meeting;  the  farmers 
generally  come  in  large  numbers,  on  horseback,  in 
breaks,  or  on  foot,  often  with  their  families.  Political 
speakers  sent  down  by  the  committees  hold  forth  in  a 
covered  enclosure  to  audiences  which,  especially  in  the 
West,  are  composed  of  both  men  and  women.  In  the 
daytime  a  "procession"  takes  place:  the  faithful  fol- 
lowers of  the  party,  adorned  with  emblems,  scour  the 
country,  headed  by  a  band ;  the  negro  village  barber, 
wearing  a  costume  trimmed  with  gold,  beats  time  with  in- 
describable dignity.  In  the  evening  the  houses  of  all  the 
party  faithful  are  illuminated  and  a  torch-light  pro- 
cession concludes  the  "Chinese  business."  The  fete, 
however,  still  goes  on;  the  speakers  reappear,  and,  in 
the  open  air,  on  the  green,  by  the  flickering  glare  of  the 
torches,  they  harangue  the  assembled  crowd.  /But  the 
attention  of  the  wearied  public  is  distracted,  there  are 
only  a  few  groups  Hstening  here  and  there,  the  rest  are 
ialking,  the  young  people  are  flirting  in  the  dim  light. 
Besides,  the  reporter  has  already  sent  off  his  long  tele- 
gram to  the  big  newspaper  of  the  district,  in  which  he 
has  somewhat  anticipated  all  the  details,  like  a  man 
who  knows  what  goes  on  at  "enthusiastic  manifesta- 
tions." 

The  electioneering  propaganda  also  resort  to  picnics, 
dances,  and  dramatic  entertainments,  etc.,  with  political 
speeches  as  interludes.  In  the  old  days,  before  the 
Civil  War,  political  picnics  were  in  vogue,  especially  in 
the  South,  and  were  known  by  the  name  of  "barbe- 
cues."  In  the  South  and  in  the  West  the  barbecues 
still  take  place;  occasionally  the  programme  includes, 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  20I 

besides  the  political  speeches  and  the  meals,  athletic 
contests,  dances,  sports,  horse  races.  In  the  East  the 
barbecue  is  less  common  and  not  so  picturesque;  it 
is  more  a  sort  of  fair  for  which  the  railroad  companies 
consider  it  a  good  opportunity  to  organize  excursion 
trainsl\ 

\  Lastly,  another  external  device,  and  a  very  popular  Campaign 
one,  IS  the  display  of  political  emblems.  The  most  com-  buttons, 
mon  party  emblems  are  the  badges,  and  especially  the 
*' buttons,"  small,  round  tin  plates  bearing  the  por- 
traits of  the  candidates  in  enamel,  with  or  without  a 
motto.  As  soon  as  the  election  campaign  opens  all  and 
sundry,  old  and  young,  men  "worth  millions  of  dollars'* 
and  ragamuffins  who  sell  newspapers  or  black  boots  at 
street-crossings,  adorn  their  buttonholes  with  a  party 
"button,"  on  which  may  be  seen  the  picture  of  the 
great  man  who  is  candidate  for  the  post  of  President  or 
Governor,  with  the  inscription:  "I  am  for  McKinley. 
Are  you?"  or,  "Silver  is  good  enough,"  "i6  to  i," 
"McKinley  and  Protection."  Even  in  Congress  grave 
legislators  may  be  seen  sporting  a  button  with  a  motto 
containing,  for  instance,  the  following  terse  formula 
which  sums  up  the  whole  morality  of  "politics": 
"Don't  kicEJ 

92.  Another  set  of  practices  may  be  included  in  the  Charges. 
"Chinese  business"  which  tries  to  impress  the  imagina-  ^ 
tion  through  the  intellect.  These  are  the  charges,  the 
claims,  the  bets,  and  the  straw  votes.  The  "charges" 
are  libellous  accusations  brought  against  the  candidates 
of  the  opposite  party.  They  occur  so  regularly  in  the 
course  of  each  election  campaign  that  nobody  be- 
lieves them:  they  are  only  "campaign  lies."     Yet  they 


202  DEMOCRACY   AND  THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

are  brought  all  the  same;  they  resemble  a  firework 
which  leaves  nothing  behind,  although  for  the  mo- 
ment it  has  made  a  noise.  The  "claims"  are  fore- 
Claims,  casts  backed  by  figures  which  predict  success  for  the 
party;  so  many  votes  are  "  claimed  "  for  it  in  advance, 
so  many  counties,  or  such  and  such  a  State.  A 
very  carefully  conducted  canvass  can  no  doubt  fur- 
nish a  trustworthy  basis  for  estimating  the  coming  vote ; 
but  these  estimates  or  claims  are  always  exaggerated 
with  the  object  of  stimulating  the  ardour  of  the  "work- 
ers" and  the  generosity  of  the  subscribers  to  the  party 
funds.  The  National  Committee  itself  is  not  above 
drawing  up  and  publishing  bulletins  of  claims  in  view 
of  the  presidential  vote. 
Bets.  JTo  confirm  belief  in  the  success  of  the  candidates 

of  the  party  and  to  decide  the  waverers,  bets  laid  on  the 
candidates  as  on  race-horses  are  largely  resorted  to. 
It  is  an  old  national  habit  to  back  one's  opinion,  even 
on  the  most  trivial  subjects,  by  laying  a  bet;  formerly 
there  was  even  a  general  formula :  "I  bet  you  a  beaver 
hat."  Now  the  phrase  is  simply  "  a  hat."  The  custom 
of  betting  soon  spread  to  elections.  At  the  outset  bets  in 
money  were  made  mostly  by  the  politicians.  Among 
the  rest  of  the  population  the  election  bet  came  into 
fashion  first  of  all  in  the  form  of  harmless  wagers  in 
which  the  stake  was  the  classic  hat,  a  box  of  cigars,  a 
^  bottle  of  wine,  or  certain  grotesque  performances  which 

are  much  in  vogue  down  to  the  present  day,  and  which 
consist,  for  instance,  in  walking  down  the  main  street 
with  one's  coat  turned  inside  out,  in  wheeling  the  winner 
in  a  barrow,  or  in  rolling  a  pea  along  the  pavement  with 
a  toothpick.     But  alongside  these  playful  proceedings 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  203 

the  election  bet  also  became  a  pretext  for  gambling 
in  all  classes  of  the  population  and  among  persons  of  all 
ages.  It  is,  in  fact,  much  stimulated  by  the  party  com- 
mittees, who  have  made  it  a  regular  means  of  in- 
fluencing the  electors,  by  laying  bets  themselves,  or 
through  others,  on  their  candidates;  the  more  these 
candidates  are  backed  and  the  longer  the  odds  given, 
the  more  their  success  must  appear  certain  to  the  electors 
who  have  not  made  up  their  minds.  The  law  has  inter- 
vened in  more  than  half  of  the  States  to  prohibit  election 
bets,  which  are  often  also  used  as  a  means  of  bribery. 
Persons  who  bet,  or  who  shall  become  interested  in  the 
bet,  are  liable  to  fine,  imprisonment,  to  the  loss  of  the 
right  to  vote  or  to  be  elected ;  but  all  these  laws  are  a 
dead  letter,  they  are  never  enforced) 

The  ".gtraw  votes''  are  a  general  rehearsal  of  the  im-  straw  votes, 
pending  election,  conducted  in  certain  sections  of  the 
population  or  in  certain  localities.  These  polls  are  held 
on  the  stock  exchange,  in  large  factories,  or  other  es- 
tablishments where  there  are  a  great  numbers  of  elec- 
tors. The  result  of  these  anticipating  votes  furnish 
*' evidence"  of  the  strength  of  the  candidate  and  of  the 
"hopeless"  weakness  of  his  rival.  Being  often  taken 
in  a  genuine  way  by  a  newspaper,  for  instance,  for  the 
purpose  of  gauging  public  opinion^  these  ballots  are 
always  apt  to  influence  those  electors  who  like  to  be  on 
the  winning  side. 

93.   The  extraordinary  development  of  these  election-  Personal 
eering  methods,  which   operate   collectively  on   large 
masses  of  electors,  by  no  means  excludes  the  direct  action 
of  man  on  man,  first  of  all  in  the  classic  form  of  the 
canvass,  ni  fhf-  p^rs^n^L^^lj^  ilH,t1?>fTof  votes.     The  im- 


canvass  of 
the  voters. 


204  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

portance  of  the  canvass  is  somewhat  diminished  in 
America  by  the  decisive  r61e  of  the  nomination,  which 
discounts  the  result  of  the  election  and  which  makes  the 
candidates  bring  their  efforts  to  bear,  not  upon  the 
voters,  but  upon  the  delegates  to  the  convention.  For 
,  instance,  in  the  South,  where,  owing  to  the  traditional 
supremacy  of  the  Democratic  party,  the  nomination 
\of  the  candidate  is  equivalent  to  election,  personal  can- 
vassing is  not  much  practised.  But  wherever  parties 
are  evenly  matched,  in  all  the  "doubtful"  States,  it 
is  carried  on  energetically.  The  modus  operandi 
varies  a  good  deal.  The  lower  strata  of  the  electorate 
are  canvassed  by  paid  "workers."  They  strive  not  so 
much  to  argue  with  the  electors  as  to  make  themselves 
pleasant;  they  shake  hands  with  negroes,  they  invite 
the  bystanders  to  have  a  drink.  As  the  decisive  mo- 
ment approaches,  redoubled  efforts  are  made  to  win 
the  "doubtful"  electors,  one  by  one;  emissaries  are 
sent  to  them  who  have  a  special  influence  over  them, 
to  whom  they  are  under  an  obligation,  or  with  whom 
they  wish  or  are  obliged  to  stand  well.  The  can- 
vassers of  this  sort  are  zealous  auxiliaries  who  look 
for  no  reward  but  the  success  of  the  party  and  the  sat- 
isfaction of  having  contributed  to  it.  The  Organiza- 
tion has  the  moral  right  to  requisition,  on  the  eve  of 
the  election,  every  faithful  follower  of  the  party  for 
the  work  of  conversion;  and  all  respond  to  the  pious 
appeal. 
Part  of  Wlie  candidate  himself  does  not  always  take  a  per- 

the  candi-  sonal  part  in  the  election,  but  he  must,  especially  the 
candidate  for  the  less  exalted  positions,  exert  himself  in 
some  way  or  other.     He  applies  to  all  the  voters  in- 


date. 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  20$ 

dividually  through  circulars  and  letters.  The  personal 
letters,  typewritten  with  the  hand  signature  of  the 
candidate,  are  the  most  effective.  He  sends  out  cards 
with  his  portrait,  pamphlets  and  leaflets  dwelling  on 
his  qualifications.  He  advertises  in  the  newspapers 
and  has  there,  perhaps,  a  testimonial  published  above 
the__signatures_of-^nen  of  note.  He  contributes  to 
charities,  he  allows  himself  to^^e  bled  by  Jhe  little 
politicians  for  one  dollar  apiece  and  upwards,  while  his 
campaign  managers  spend  money  in  the  saloons  — 
a  thing  which  he  pretends  to  ignore  entirely.  He  may 
pay  a  visit  to  the  most  important  electors,  or  even 
if  he  is  an  inferior  man,  go  from  one  drinking-saloon 
to  another  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  frequenters 
of  the  bars.  In  the  cities,  however,  it  is  not  so  nec- 
essary, nor  is  it  easy  for  the  candidate  to  bestow  many 
marks  of  personal  attention  on  the  electors ;  he  has  no 
points  of  contact  with  the  heterogeneous  and  floating 
populations  of  the  large  cities.  Personal  action  will 
be  more  effectively  exercised  over  them  through  the 
men  of  the  Organization,  of  the  Machine,  who  are 
rubbing  up  against  them  every  day,  who  always  have 
their  net  spread  to  catch  them.  In  the  rural  districts, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  candidate  must  show  himself. 
He  is  exempt  from  the  baby-kissing  business,  which 
does  not  exist  in  America,  as  it  does  still  in  England,  but 
he  is  not  at  liberty  to  shirk  that  of  hand-shaki^3    ' 

The  civilities  of  the  candidate  and  the  endless  variety  Undue 
of  arguments  employed  by  the  canvassers  act,  or  are  ^^^^ence  i 
supposed  to  act,  by  free  persuasion.     But  sometimes  pioyers. 
these  arguments  are  supplemented  or  replaced  by  the 
pressure  exerted,  for  instance,  by  employers  of  labour. 


206  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

It  would  appear  to  be  not  so  uncommon  in  the  East, 
which  is  the  great  stronghold  of  capitalism;  in  the  West 
the  independent  spirit  of  the  workmen  makes  them  less 
inclined  to  submit  to  it.  The  foreman  or  the  masters 
give  the  workmen  to  understand  that  the  rate  of  their 
wages,  or  their  engagement  itself  in  the  factory  or 
workshop,  will  depend  on  the  defeat  or  the  success  of  the 
candidate.  Bills  are  posted  up  in  the  workshop  stat- 
ing that  if  a  particular  Candidate  is  elected,  the  wages 
will  fall,  or  the  factory  will  be  closed  or  will  have  to 
V  restrict  its  output. 
Bribery  at  94.  Lastly,  the  most  direct  argument  addressed  to 
elections.  the  personal  interest  of  the  elector  consists,  as  in  other 
countries,  of  the  purchase  of  votes  for  cash.  Electoral 
bribery  plays  a  considerable  part  in  the  political  life 
of  the  States,  and  an  increasing  one.  Before  the  Civil 
,  War  it  was  only  in  three  or  four  large  cities,  with  New 
York  at  their  head,  which  already  contained  a  wretched 
population  exposed  to  the  temptations  of  ignorance  and 
vice,  that  money  was  had  recourse  to  for  getting  votes 
at  elections.  But  after  the  war,  the  exasperation  of 
party  spirit  and  the  extraordinary  development  of  the 
spoils  system  led  to  bribery  being  used  as  a  regular 
weapon.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  cities,  inevitably 
accompanied  by  the  rise  of  a  poverty-stricken  and  semi- 
criminal  class,  the  arrival  of  wretched  emigrants  from 
Europe,  and  the  extension  of  the  suffrage  to  the  besotted 
negroes,  had,  in  their  turn,  swelled  the  venal  contin- 
gents. The  appearance  on  the  political  stage  of  the 
rich  corporations  and,  in  general,  of  the  big  industrial 
and  financial  concerns  trying  to  pack  the  legislative  as- 
semblies, the  executive,  and  the  judiciary,  greatly  helped 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  207 

to  supply  the  funds  required  for  buying  votes.  The 
economy  of  the  American  electoral  system,  which  makes 
the  result  of  the  presidential  election  depend  on  a  few 
"pivotal"  States,  whatever  the  distribution  of  the  whole 
popular  vote  in  the  Union,  has  facilitated  the  concentra- 
tion of  bribery  operations,  an4  thereby  put  a  premium 
on  them.  These  States,  ranked  among  the  " doubtful" 
ones,  four  or  five  in  number,  are  "  drenched  with  money" 
during  the  presidential  campaign  for  buying  the  "  float- 
ers," the  "wavering"  electors  who  sell  themselves  to  the 
highest  bidder.  Elsewhere  bribery  is  also  practised, 
but  in  a  very  unequal  fashion. 

jTh  some  parts  of  the  Union  electoral  manners  are 
tolerably  pure,  but  in  others  bribery  is  a  permanent 
institution.  And  what  is  remarkable  and  somewhat 
unexpected  is  that  it  is  not  solely  or  even  principally 
in  the  cities  that  this  evil  obtainsTj  Even  in  the  con- 
taminated cities  bribery  is  not  always  individual:  the 
** workers"  rather,  the  small  "leaders,"  are  bought, 
who  wield  an  influence  over  a  certain  number  of  poor 
voters,  and  make  them  vote  as  -they  tell  them  to  with- 
out paying  them  expressly  for  their  vote.  The  parties 
often  secure,  in  much  the  same  way,  the  votes  of  the 
members  of  the  labour  unions :  the  leaders  "  sell  them 
out"  to  the  parties,  without  the  workmen  having  a  sus- 
picion of  it.  The  voters  who  deliberately  sell  them- 
selves belong,  in  the  cities,  mostly  to  the  dregs  of  the 
population.  The  most  shameless  venality  is  often  met 
with  in  the  country  districts,  particularly  in  the  States  of 
the  Atlantic  seaboard,  nay,  even  in  New  England,  inhab- 
ited by  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans.  Votes  are  sold 
there  openly  like  an  article  of  commerce;    there  is  a 


208 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Beneficial 
effects  of 
the  Aus- 
tralian 
Ballot. 


regular  market  quotation  for  them.  ]  And  it  is  not  only 
needy  people  who  make  a  traffic  of  their  votes,  but  well- 
to-do  farmers  of  American  stock,  pious  folk  who  al- 
ways go  to  church  on  Sunday.  In  some  country  dis- 
tricts a  quarter  or  a  third  of  the  electors  make  money 
out  of  their  votes.  7 

\^.  Bribery  was  up  till  lately  carried  on  with  all  the 
more  facility  that  the  vote  was  not  absolutely  secret; 
the  buyer  could  follow  his  man  to  the  ballot-box  and  see 
if  the  latter  had  really  put  his  voting-paper  in  it.  In  the 
same  way  the  foremen  in  factories  kept  an  eye  on  their 
workmen.  Voters  were  even  exposed  to  intimidation 
^  and  personal  violence  at  the  hands  of  desperate  election 
agents,  who  prevented  them  from  voting  as  they  liked 
or  forced  another  "ticket"  on  them.  The  scandals 
which  attended  the  taking  of  the  vote  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, and  the  wholesale  bribery  which  marked 
the  presidential  election  of  i888Jwere  at  last  too  much 
for  public  opinion,  and  contributed  to  the  adoption  by 
almost  every  State,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  of  the 
great  electoral  reform  known  by  the  name  of  the  "  Aus- 
tralian Ballot."  The  new  method  of  voting,  thus  called 
because  it  is  in  force  in  the  English  colonies  of  Australia 
(as  also,  by  the  way,  in  the  mother-country),  ensures  ab- 
solute secrecy  for  the  vote  by  the  plan  of  official  voting- 
papers,  distributed  exclusively  by  official  agency  and 
deposited  by  each  voter  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  the 
contents  being  seen.  The  names  of  the  candidates  of 
all  the  parties  are  declared,  in  the  manner  and  within 
the  period  prescribed,  to  the  public  authority,  which 
classifies  them  all  on  a  single  voting-paper  printed  under 
its  directions.     Each  elector  who  comes  up  to  vote  re- 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  209 

ceives  from  the  election  officers  a  copy  of  the  voting- 
paper,  withdraws  into  an  isolated  compartment  to  mark 
on  the  list  the  candidates  of  his  choice,  and  gives  up  the 
paper  folded  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  any  particular 
signs.  All  persons  other  than  those  recording  their 
vote  are  kept  at  a  distance;  the  public  is  forbidden  to 
approach  within  fifty  to  a  hundred  yards  of  the  railed 
enclosure  behind  which  the  voting  is  going  on. 

PThe  "Australian"  system  has,  in  fact,  put  an  end  to 
the  open  intimidation  and  to  the  coercion  which  were 
practised  on  the  electors;  the  elections  are  now,  with 
few  exceptions,  conducted  in  an  orderly  manner;  the 
public  market  for  votes  which  was  held  in  New  York 
and  in  other  large  cities,  outside  the  polling-places,  has 
also  been  put  down.  But  bribery  goes  on  just  the  same 
and  has  not  much  diminished  on  the  whole.  Means 
have  been  discovered  of  "beating"  the  law;  devices 
have  been  invented  which  enable  the  bribers  to  assure 
themselves  that  the  bribe-taker  has  really  performed  his 
part  of  the  bargain.  In  other  cases  the  elector's  vote  is 
not  bought,  but  his  abstention  from  voting,  which  is  easy 
to  find  out ;  electors  of  this  kind  form  a  rather  numerous 
class  humorously  called  "  fishermen,"  they  are  prevented 
from  voting  because  they  have  gone  out  fishing.  Or 
what  is  still  safer  and  simpler,  the  elector  is  paid  not  to 
apply  for  registration ;  he  will  not  be  able  to  vote  even 
if  the  other  side  succeeds  in  making  a  convert  of  him. 
As  generally  one  party  is  using  bribery  because  the 
other  does  so,  the  rival  organizations  in  some  places 
decide  to  stop  that  practice  by  mutual  agreement. 
There  have  been  lately  many  instances  of  such  "gentle- 
men's agreements."     Besides,  if  bribery  occurs  much 


210 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE  PARTY   SYSTEM 


Penal 

provisions 

against 

corrupt 

practices. 


less  than  before  at  elections,  it  is  largely  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  corrupt  practices  have  been  transferred  to  the 
primaries,  where  the  decisive  battle  is  often  fought.'/ 

There  are  in  all  the  States  penal  provisions  against 
electoral  bribery.  But  a  good  many  of  them  (sixteen 
States  and  one  Territory)  went  further  within  the  last 
two  decades.  Following  the  example  of  the  English 
Corrupt  Practices  Act  of  1883,  they  have  dealt  with  the 
expenses  of  candidates  and  the  agency  for  the  disburse- 
ment of  moneys.  The  laws  enacted  in  those  States 
require  publicity  with  regard  to  campaign  contributions 
and  expenditures,  and  frequently  specify  the  authorized 
expenditures  or  the  prohibited  expenses.  The  candi- 
dates, and  as  a  rule  the  committees  too,  are  ordained  to 
file  with  the  proper  authority,  after  the  election,  sworn 
itemized  statements  of  all  the  moneys  contributed  or 
expended  by  them  or  through  others,  directly  or  in- 
directly, to  secure  their  election.  But  some  of  the  most 
important  of  those  laws,  the  acts  of  New  York  and  of 
Pennsylvania,  exempt  from  that  provision  disburse- 
ments not  exceeding  ten  dollars.  This  alone  is  enough 
to  bring  the  whole  law  to  nought.  Some  States  did 
not  content  themselves  with  the  moral  sanction  of 
publicity  of  the  election  expenditures  but  added  to  it  a 
positive  one  by  limiting  the  amount  that  may  be  spent 
either  according  to  the  number  of  voters  or  to  the 
amount  of  salary  attached  to  the  office.  Some  laws  ex- 
pressly prohibit  treating  and  entertainment,  payment 
of  naturalization  fees,  poll-taxes,  etc.  The  more  strin- 
gent of  the  State  laws  require  that  all  the  expenditures, 
except  the  strictly  personal  ones  of  the  candidate,  should 
be  made  through  a  candidate's  authorized  agent  or 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  211 

treasurer  of  a  political  committee,  to  secure  unity  and 
responsibility  in  disbursements/  A  good  many  of  these 
laws  are  exceedingly  minute  in  their  provisions,  and 
would  leave  no  loophole  for  the  candidates  and  the 
committees  if  they  were  enforced.  But  this  is  not  done 
as  a  rule.  In  some  States  the  legislature  has  extended 
to  primaries  and  caucuses  the  provisions  relating  to  cor- 
rupt practices  at  elections,  but  with  scarcely  a  better 
effect. 

96. ''The  bribery  of  the  electors  has  its  corollary  and  Bribery 
complement  in  the  bribery  of  the  election  officers  who  °^  election 

.  OEQcers  and 

conduct  the  ballot.  Dishonest  "election  inspectors,"  election 
suborned  on  behalf  of  a  candidate,  used  to  alter  the  frauds, 
result  of  the  ballot  for  his  benefit,  by  admitting  deliber- 
ately fraudulent  votes,  by  slipping  into  the  ballot-box 
voting-papers  bearing  the  name  of  their  favoured  candi- 
date, etc.  In  some  large  cities  the  election  was  falsified 
not  so  much  by  the  purchase  of  votes  as  by  these  frauds. 
In  the  South  these  practices  were  introduced,  after  the 
Civil  War,  to  "save  civilization"  from  the  new  coloured 
electors ;  but  gradually  people  got  into  the  habit  of  com- 
mitting the  voting  frauds  at  the  expense  of  white  politi- 
cal opponents]  ^he  Australian  Ballot  has  remedied 
this  abuse  not  only  by  supplying  official  voting-papers, 

^  One  of  the  most  recent  laws  and  probably  the  most  drastic  Cor- 
rupt Practices  Act,  the  Oregon  law  of  1908,  requires  that  the  books  of 
accounts  of  every  treasurer  of  any  political  party,  during  an  election 
campaign,  shall  be  open  to  the  inspection  of  the  treasurer  and  chair- 
man of  any  opposing  political  party  or  organization.  According  to 
the  same  Act  no  publisher  of  a  newspaper  may  insert  any  paid  po- 
litical matter  without  stating  therein  that  it  is  paid,  while  payment 
or  accepting  of  pay  for  advocating  or  opposing  editorially  the  nomi- 
nation or  election  of  any  candidate  is  to  be  punished  as  a  corrupt 
practice. 


212  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

but  by  providing  that  the  ballot-boxes  shall  be  placed  in 
the  voting-room  so  as  to  be  under  the  eyes  of  the  public  ; 
that  they  shall  be  examined  before  the  polling  begins, 
and  that  the  parties  or  the  rival  candidates  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  station  watchers  and  challengers  within  the 
polling  rooms ;  and,  lastly,  that  the  counting  of  the  vote 
shall  take  place  in  public  and  forthwith.  These 
measures  have  stopped  the  frauds  to  a  very  considerable 
extent,  but  they  ha\je  not  been  sufficient  to  put  an  end 
to  them  altogether.]  To  make  them  quite  impossible, 
in  spite  of  the  dishonesty  of  "election  inspectors"  and 
the  want  of  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  public,  voting 
machines  have  been  invented  in  which  the  elector  has 
only  to  touch  a  knob  or  knobs  to  record  his  vote  for  one 
or  more  candidates,  and  in  which  an  automatic  counter 
registers  the  number  of  votes  obtained  by  each  can- 
didate. ^ 
Laxity  of  No  doubt  the  most  effective  invention  would  be  one 
^^•J^           that  would  touch  the  public  conscience,  for  if  the  voting 

opinion.  •■ — -,___- — — '-— -Il___  _ -_•  ^- 

frauds  and  the  bribery  oFeTectors  occur  so  frequently, 
and  if  they  are  inadequately  repressed  by  the  law,  which, 
however,  has  no  lack  of  prohibitory  clauses,  the  fault 
must  lie  in  the  tolerance  shown  by  public  opinion.  Not 
that  public  opinion  approves  these  practices;  on  the 
contrary.  But  when  it  comes  to  fighting  the  opposite 
party,  people  perfectly  honourable  in  private  life  shut 
their  eyes,  acquiesce  in  buying  "floaters"  as  in  one 
of  those  melancholy  necessities  with  which  "politics," 
as  well  as  war,  is  fraught,  but  which  must  be  faced  if 
the  battle  is  to  be  won.  And  it  must  be  won,  for  if 
you  are  a  "man,"  an  American,  you  cannot  let  yourself 
be  beaten.    The  opposite  party  resorts   to   bribery  ; 


THE  ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  213 

then  why  should  not  your  own  party,  which  is  the 
good,  the  just  one,  also  benefit  by  it?  The  elector 
who  sells  himself,  including  the  well-to-do  and  pious 
farmer  of  New  Hampshire,  has  still  fewer  scruples :  he 
has  been  brought  up  by  the  Caucus  and  Machine 
system  in  the  notion  that  "politics"  is  a  "business"  in 
which,  as  in  any  other  business,  some  people  buy  com- 
modities and  others  sell  them;  and  why  should  he  let 
people  who  will  make  money  out  of  his  vote  have  it 
for  nothing? 

97.   Even  when  there  is  no  bribery,  the  election  ex-  Legitimate 
penses  are  still  very  heavy,  in  spite  of  the  Australian  expenditure. 
Ballot,  which  has  curtailed  them  by  introducing  official 
voting-papers  prepared  by  and  at  the  cost  of  the  State, 
of  the  city,  etc.     The  legitimate  heads  of  expenditure 
are  numerous  enough :  the  hire  of  halls,  the  payments 
made  to  speakers,  to  canvassers,  to  "workers"  of  every 
kind;    the  making  up  and  distribution  of  "political 
literature";  advertising,  postage,  and  telegrams;    the 
distribution  of  campaign  emblems  and  "buttons,"  uni- 
forms, banners,  and  torches  used  in  processions  and 
parades ;  the  conveyance  of  electors  on  the  polling-day, 
etc.     Where  does  the  money  come  from  ?     It  is  supplied  Sources 
by  the  candidates,  by  the  office-holders,  and  by  private  °^  *^^ . 

,.  campaign 

donors.  The  candidates,  who  have,  as  a  rule,  already  funds, 
paid  the  party  Organization  a  certain  sum  for  their 
nomination,  contribute  their  quota  toward  the  election 
expenses.  The  presidential  candidates  themselves  sub- 
scribe to  the  "campaign  fund";  if  they  are  not  rich, 
they  must,  and  this  applies  to  all  candidates",  have  rich 
relatives  or  friends  ready  to  step  into  the  breach  and  to 
loosen  their  purse-strings. 


214  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

The  office-holders,  who  are  liable  to  the  tribute  of 
"assessments''  for  the  benefit  of  the  party,  have  been 
less  squeezed  since  the  law  of  1883  has  taken  the  Federal 
employees  appointed  by  competitive  examinations  out 
of  the  clutches  of  the  parties,  and  has  forbidden  all 
officers  or  employees  of  the  United  States  to  demand 
and  to  collect  ** political  contributions"  in  the  Federal 
departments  and  their  branches.  The  law  is  some- 
times infringed  and  often  evaded.  In  the  service  of 
the  States  and  the  municipal  service,  the  personnel  of 
which  is  much  more  numerous,  there  is,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions, no  legal  obstacle  to  the  levy  of  the  assessments, 
and  no  means  of  refusing  thern  with  impunity;  and 
they  are  still  demanded  and  paid.  \ 

The  gifts  of  private  individuals  who  are  not  candidates 
nor  office-holders  make  up  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
''campaign  fund."  In  the  great  majority  of  cases  they 
are  a  pure  speculation,  an  investment  of  money  which 
later  on  should  yield  a  good  return  in  favours.  The 
Contribu-  representatives  of  the  big  industrial  or  financial  concerns, 
tions  by  cor-  corporations,  or  individual  capitalists  obtain  by  a  heavy 
poraions.  contribution  to  the  "campaign  funds"  a  sort  of  mort- 
gage over  the  future  administration  or  legislature.  The 
money  contributed,  of  course  secretly,  by  the  corpora- 
tions at  the  presidential  campaigns  of  1 896-1 904  has 
supplied  the  campaign  managers  with  an  enormous 
corruption  fund,  which  has  been  used  accordingly.  It 
is  considered  that  in  1896  the  Republican  national  chair- 
man disposed  of  a  campaign  fund  of  seven  million  dol- 
lars, in  1900  of  three  millions  and  a  half,  in  1904  of 
three  millions.  The  exposures  made  after  the  presiden- 
tial election  of  1904  have  roused  public  opinion  against 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  215 

the  contributions  of  the  corporations.  Some  States, 
about  a  dozen,  have  enacted  laws  formally  prohibiting 
them.  But  the  best  cure  turned  out  to  be  the  disclosure 
which  public  opinion  has  forced  on  the  national  com- 
mittees :  those  latter  have  made  public  all  the  money- 
contributions  received  by  them  during  the  campaign. 
Owing  to  that  attitude  of  public  opinion  the  last 
presidential  campaign,  of  1908,  was  conducted  on  a 
much  higher  plane  than  before.  Whether  that  plane 
will  be  maintained  in  the  future,  when  there  will  be  more 
exciting  campaigns  with  great  issues,  with  great  material 
interests,  at  stake,  is  an  open  question. 

The  corporations  were  not  the  only  wealthy  subscrib- 
ers. Rich  private  individuals  were  in  the  habit  of  giv- 
ing money  with  the  same  object,  —  to  establish  a  claim 
on  the  gratitude  of  the  future  administration  which 
would  repay  them  with  honours  for  themselves,  such 
even  as  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  or  an  embassy,  or  with 
places  for  their  friends  and  their  proteges.  The  public- 
ity of  campaign  contributions  is  naturally  a  shock  to 
such  donors  as  well ;  but  not  so  to  another  category  of 
donors  who  subscribe  out  of  pure  **  patriotism,"  pure 
devotion  to  the  ''cause,"  or  who  are  actuated  by  sport- 
ing motives  which  make  them  enjoy  a  good  fight  for  its 
own  sake;  they  ''plunge"  for  their  party  as  they  would 
for  a  race-horse. 

98.    Still  greater  and  more  profitable  than  these  funds  The  fund 
subscribed  by  zealous  partisans  is  the  capital  which  °  ^^^^ 
consists  of  the  feeling  of  loyalty  to  the  party.     Most  of 
the    electors   are   bound  to  one  or  other  of  the   two 
great  parties  by  various  ties,  the  strongest  of  which  are 
personal  associations,  the  company  which  a  man  keeps. 


2l6  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

tradition,  habit,  the  prejudice  created  by  these  factors 
or  engendered  by  considerations  of  private  and  public 
interest  of  a  more  or  less  rational  or  irrational  kind. 
JAfter  all,  the  name  of  the  party  is  its  own  justification  in 
me  eyes  of  millions  of  electors.  They  say,  ''I  am  a 
Democrat"  or  "I  am  a  Republican,"  as  the  case  may 
be,  just  as  a  believer  says,  to  explain  and  justify  his 
faith,  "I  am  a  Christian."  The  reader  knows  how, 
and  through  what  political  circumstances,  party  de- 
votion, which  is  rather  an  unreasoning  sentiment  all  the 
world  over,  has  been  intensified  in  the  United  States 
and  raised  to  the  level  of  a  dogma,  —  the  dogma  of 
"regularity,"  which  makes  the  party  creed  consist  in 
voting  the  "straight  party  ticket,"  whatever  it  may  be. 
The  sins  against  the  religion  of  the  party  are  sins  against 
the  ticket.  They  fall  under  two  heads,  "scratching" 
and  "bolting."  A  member  of  the  party  who  withholds 
his  vote  from  one  or  some  of  the  candidates  entered 
on  the  party  ticket,  while  voting  for  the  rest,  is  guilty 
of  "scratching":  he  "scratches,"  he  strikes  out  the 
names  of  the  candidates  to  whom  he  objects.  The 
elector  who  altogether  rejects  the  ticket  adopted  by  the 
Organization  of  his  party  commits  the  graver  offence 
of  "bolting";  his  perversity  makes  him  a  "bolter,"  an 
apostate.  Directly  the  candidates  are  proclaimed  by  the 
convention,  their  rivals  and  their  opponents  are  bound 
to  submit,  >to  rally  to  them,  and  even  to  fight  by  their 
side  and  for  them.  This  is  called  "falling  into  line." 
The  humble  party  follower  never  has  an  opportunity  of 
hearing  the  candidates  on  the  ticket  criticised  by  any 
one  but  open  enemies  belonging  to  the  opposite  party, 
who  are  of  course  the  fathers  of  lies.    He  turns  a  deaf 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  2l7 

ear  to  their  perfidious  remarks,  he  preserves  his  party 
immaculateness,  without  a  single  lapse,  which  enables 
him  to  say  proudly :  "I  have  never  in  my  life  scratched  a 
ticket,"  even  when  the  candidates  on  it  were  as  bad 
as  could  be.  The  intensity  of  these  feelings  of  party  Variations 
loyalty  varies  somewhat  according  to  occasion  and  so-  ^^  P^^^y 
cial  environment.  In  the  "  presidential  years,"  when  the  °^^ 
chief  magistracy  of  the  Republic  has  to  be  won,  party 
loyalty  will  stop  at  no  sacrifices  and  will  swallow  all 
scruples  to  attain  its  end.  In  order  not  to  jeopardize 
the  success  of  the  ticket,  which  represents  an  indivisible 
whole,  the  faithful  follower  of  the  party  will  vote 
blindly  for  any  one  who  comes  after  the  presidential 
candidate;  he  will  vote  even  for  a  ''yellow  dog." 
Hence,  this  exceptional  year  is  often  called,  from  that 
point  of  view,  "the  yellow  dog  year." 

As  regards  the  intensity  of  party  loyalty  according 
to  social  environment,  it  is  greater  in  the  East  and,  .  i 
in  general,  in  the  countryji^tricts.  In  the  East,  tradi-  *  • 
tion,  hereditary  habits,  are  more  powerful;  social  re- 
lations are  more  crystallized,  so  to  speak;  in  short,  the 
East  is  more  conservative.  Besides,  party  Organiza- 
tion, which  keeps  party  loyalty  alive  like  a  fire,  is  more 
developed  in  the  East  than  in  the  West.  The  mode  of 
life  in  the  country  districts  encourages  mental  stagnation 
in  political  matters  as  well  as  in  other  respects.  The 
sources  of  information  are  indifferent;  new  ideas  have 
difficulty  in  making  their  way.  Social  pressure,  which 
is  much  heavier  in  the  country  than  in  the  cities,  and 
respect  for  the  world's  opinion  mount  guard  around 
the  old  creed  of  the  party :  often  it  is  only  at  the  risk  of 
losing  the  esteem  and  the  confidence  of  your  neighbours 


•2 1 8  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

that  you  can  break  with  your  political  party.  This 
state  of  the  public  mind,  which,  as  it  were,  congeals  the 
electoral  masses,  leads  to  the  formation  of  "Republican 
States"  and  of  "Democratic  States,"  according  as  the 
traditional  preponderance  belongs  to  one  or  the  other 
party,  and  gives  these  parties  "normal  majorities."/ 
How  party  99.  This  is  not,  however,  the  case  everywhere  and 
loyalty  is  always.  Party  loyalty,  even  without  being  affected  by 
bribery,  yields  often  to  certain  influences  or  considera- 
tions. It  may  happen  that  the  candidate's  personality 
prevails  over  the  habits  of  the  elector  as  a  party-man ;  if 
he  dislikes  the  candidate  of  his  own  party,  he  "  scratches" 
his  name  on  the  list;  he  is  attracted  by  the  candi- 
date of  the  opposite  party,  perhaps  by  a  single  can- 
didate on  a  long  list,  and  he  votes  for  him.  )  In  local 
elections  personal  considerations  carry  very  great  weight, 
whereas  in  other  elections  the  American  elector  is  not 
so  liable,  at  least  was  not  so  till  very  recently,  to  be 
carried  away  by  them. 

Party  loyalty  is  far  more  seriously  impaired  by  the 
trend  of  events,  by  new  political  or  merely  economic 
considerations  which  disturb  the  elector's  peace  of  mind. 
He  feels  that  he  is  threatened,  or  believes  that  the  coun- 
try is  threatened,  by  what  has  already  happened  or  is 
likely  to  happen,  and  in  his  fright  he  darts  out  of  the 
beaten  party  track  wherein  he  is  wont  to  walk.  The 
mirage  of  a  universal  prosperity  to  be  brought  about 
by  some  infallible  specific,  such  as  the  unlimited 
is^e  of  paper  money  or  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  is 
rushed  madly  after  by  masses  of  electors.  It  is,  in  fact, 
'  a  sort  of  contagious  madness;   hence  the  term  "craze" 

is  applied  to  these  electoral  convulsions.     Under  the 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  ^I9 

pressure  of  circumstances  of  one  kind  or  another,  with 
or  without  good  reason,  the  current  of  opinion  turns  "Tidal 
towards  a  certain  party,  creates  or  develops  for  its  wave." 
benefit  a  "feehng"  which  mounts  like  a  tidal  wave, 
submerging  everything  that  it  meej;s??  This  analogy 
has  led  to  the  application  of  the  expression  "  tidal 
wave  "  to  the  election  which  has  given  the  winning  side 
an  overwhelming  majority.  Capricious  and  undefinable 
as  the  tidal  wave  is.  its  course  is,  to  some  extent,  regu- 
lated by  the  communities  through  which  it  passes;  at  one 
time  it  is  impetuous,  at  another  it  moves  more  slowly. 
The  West  is  the  region  where  it  displays  most  force; 
the  equality  of  social  conditions  which  prevails  in  this 
vast  tract  of  country  allows  the  "feeling"  to  spread 
without  hindrance  from  one  person  to  another,  like  a 
prairie  fire,  whereas  in  the  East  it  is  interrupted, 
is  stopped,  by  the  barriers  arising  out  of  social 
divisions. 

As  the  Federal,  State,  and  local  elections  are  practically  "  Straight 
mixed  up,  and  all  the  candidates  of  the  party  are  brought  ^^^^^'•" 
together  on  a  single  ticket,  the  elector  is  generally  in- 
clined to  vote  for  them  in  a  lump,  to  put  a  "straight 
ticket"    in    the    ballot-box.     Special    combinations  of 
circumstances  may,  however,  prompt  him  to  divide  his 
vote,  by  voting  for  the  local  candidates  of  one  party  and 
for  the  candidates  for  the  Presidency  and  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency of  the  Union  nominated  by  the  opposite  party. 
An  elector  who  is  thus  guilty  of  a  partial  infidelity  to  "Split 
his  party  is  said  to  vote  a  "split  ticket."  j^Splitting  the  ticket." 
ticket  has  already  become  more  and  more  common  in 
local  elections,  to  the  detriment  of  the  party;  the  elector 
looks,  more  than  formerly,  to  the  personal  merit  of 


220  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

the  municipal  candidates,  and  not  to  their  party  label; 
and  within  these  last  years  this  attitude  of  the  voter  has 
spread  to  the  State  and  even  national  elections.  Inde- 
pendence from  party  has  made  remarkable  progress, 
as  we  shall  see  lat^r7  Irrespective  of  the  independent 
and  critically  minded  electors,  who  are  daily  growing 
more  numerous  within  the  parties,  there  is  a  very  con- 
siderable number  of  electors  who  are  in  a  continuous 
state  of  oscillation,  so  to  speak,  drifting  hither  and 
thither  with  events.  It  is  above  all  these  voters  who 
must  be  got  hold  of,  it  is  at  them  that  the  whole  activity 
of  the  party  organizations  is  aimed :  the  meetings,  the 
"documents,"  the  processions  and  parades,  the  acts 
of  pressure  of  every  kind.  The  party  which  puts  forth, 
in  this  direction,  the  greatest  efforts  and  in  the  most 
methodical  way,  will  have  the  best  chance  of  winning, 
independently  of  the  intrinsic  merit  of  the  cause  or 
of  the  principles  which  this  party  represents,  or  of 
the  force  of  time-honoured  prejudices  which  protects 
it.  From  this  point  of  view  the  fate  of  party 
contests,  however  deep  the  convictions  or  however 
ardent  the  passions  to  which  they  give  rise,  depends 
on  organization. 
Getting  j  loo.   The  success  of  the  efforts  made  to  "get  out 

out  the  j.^  vote,"  as  the  phrase  goes,  will,  however,  be  incom- 

plete if  care  is  not  taken,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  to  "get 
out"  the  voters.  Apathy  and  want  of  public  spirit  are 
so  great  with  many  electors  that  they  would  abstain 
from  voting  if  they  were  left  to  themselves  on  the 
polling-day,  as  is  the  case  in  England.  Yet  the 
American  elector  shows  more  eagerness  to  vote.  The 
belief  in  the  duty  of  voting  is  more  common  in  the 


voters. 


THE   ELECTION  CAMPAIGN  221 

United  States,  perhaps  not  so  much  from  the  fact  that 
the  civic  conscience  is  more  enHghtened  there,  as  owing 
to  the  civic  "cant"  which,  to  a  certain  extent,  prevails 
in  the  American  democracy.  The  excessive  use  of  the 
elective  system,  which  necessitates  constant  appeals  to 
the  electors,  which  demands  unremitting  exertions  to 
win  their  good  graces,  has  developed  in  American  polit- 
ical life,  to  a  greater  degree  than  elsewher^  the  ver- 
biage about  the  greatness  of  the  people;^bout  the 
august  majesty  of  the  citizen,  about  his  sacred  rights 
and  duties,  etc.  With  these  grand  words  constantly 
dinned  into  his  head  and  with  a  genuine  appreciation 
of  them,  the  American  elector,  while  wholly  wrapped 
up  in  his  affairs,  readily  cherishes  a  platonic  cult  for 
his  civic  duties.  He  considers  that  he  owes  it  to  him- 
self to  profess  this  cult,  although  he  has  not  the  time 
nor  the  inclination  to  be  a  minister  of  it ;  and  he  thinks 
he  puts  himself  right  with  his  conscience  when  he  goes 
to  deposit  his  voting-paper  on  the  day  of  the  poll,  — 
the  voting-paper  prepared  for  him  and  without  him, 
—  as  one  goes  to  church  on  the  day  of  a  great  festival. 
It  is  a  testimonial  of  piety  as  well,  of  civic  piety,  which 
he  delivers  to  himself;  and,  as  he  can  get  it  cheap,  he 
is  quite  ready  to  join  in  the  ritual  performance  of  the 
vote,  which  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  his  civic  reli- 
gion. /Again,  nowhere  is  the  elector  so  canvassed  as 
he  is  by  the  party  Organization  in  the  United  States. 
This  twofold  pressure  put  on  the  elector  reaches  its 
height  in  the  presidential  years.  The  result  is  that  the 
vote  yields  at  that  time  very  high  proportions  —  as 
much  as  95  per  cent  of  the  total  electorate.  The 
maximum  is  reached  in  the  ''doubtful"  States,  where 


222  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

the  parties  fight  tooth  and  nail  over  the  slender  ma- 
jority which  may  issue  from  the  contest.  It  should  be 
noted,  however,  that  the  total  of  loo  per  cent  repre- 
sents only  electors  on  the  register,  that  is  to  say,  under 
the  American  system,  those  only  who  have  got  on  it  of 
their  own  accord.  A  good  many,  in  fact,  abstain  from 
registering?) 
Stay-at-  Id.   In  many  States  the  abstentions  are  consider- 

home  vote,  able,  and  the  "stay-at-home  vote"  or  the  "dumb  vote" 
is  pretty  large,  even  at  the  presidential  elections.  Most 
of  those  abstaining  do  so  from  pure  indifference;  but 
with  many  others  the  dislike  and  weariness  of  politics 
are  the  true  causes.  Lastly,  along  with  the  incorrigible 
abstainers,  there  are  electors,  well-meaning  citizens, 
who  take  temporary  refuge  in  abstention  to  express 
their  dissatisfaction  with  the  conduct  of  their  party. 
This  mode  of  protesting  by  silence  against  abuses  is 
not  uncommon,  and  sometimes  is  a  serious  blow  to 
those  against  whom  it  is  directed. 

Abstention  from  voting  occurs  with  special  fre- 
quency at  elections  other  than  those  of  the  "presidential 
year";  at  local  elections  it  is  considerable  and  some- 
times even  enormous.  The  cause  of  good  government 
suffers  much  therefrom,  for  the  result  is  that  the  mer- 
cenary elements  of  the  Machines  are  the  most  regular  in 
voting.  In  this  connection  the  question  of  a  compul- 
sory vote  has  been  raised.  Before  the  foundation  of  the 
Republic,  under  English  rule,  there  were  in  several 
colonies  old  laws  which  imposed  fines  on  electors  who 
abstained  from  voting. 

The  election  campaign  is  virtually  closed  on  the 
first  Tuesday  of  November  with  the  popular  vote  for 


campaign. 


THE   ELECTION   CAMPAIGN  223 

the  members  of  the  Electoral  college  who,  according  to  Conclusion 
the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  will  have  to  choose,  a  ^fl^^_ 
few  months  later,  the  President  and  the  Vice-President 
of  the  Republic.  The  result  of  this  vote  discloses  in 
advance  the  name  of  the  future  President,  as  the  presi- 
dential electors  are  chosen,  just  like  the  other  candi- 
dates, on  the  recommendation  of  the  party  Organiza- 
tion, only  to  put  into  the  ballot-box  the  name  of  the 
presidential  candidate  adopted  by  the  national  conven- 
tion of  the  party.  Although  the  law  leaves  them  full 
liberty  of  action,  there  is  no  instance  of  the  presidential 
electors  having  voted  contrary  to  the  instructions  of 
their  party. 

The  vote  once  recorded,  the  r61e  of  the  people  is 
completed  as  well.  Lord  and  sovereign  judge,  they  have 
appeared  on  the  scene  at  the  last  moment  only,  having 
come  from  afar,  as  it  were  from  a  foreign  land  or  from 
the  opposite  bank.  No  sooner  have  they  come  out 
than  the  politicians  surround  and  turn  the  mass  of 
electors  by  a  series  of  concerted  movements,  and  strive 
to  conquer  their  minds  and  lead  their  wills  captive. 
The  efforts  expended  are  formidable  and  the  apparent 
results  are  admirable,  but  it  is  the  triumph  of  organi- 
zation turning  factory  methods  to  action  on  the  public 
mind.  In  the  endeavour  to  mould  the  human  material 
with  the  minimum  of  friction  and  resistance,  all  efforts 
are  concentrated  on  its  most  malleable  points;  the 
living  mass  is  hammered  in  its  most  impressionable 
spot  —  the  senses.  The  emotions  of  the  multitude  are 
appealed  to;  it  is  excited  and  worked  up  into  a  state 
of  hysteria  by  a  set  of  elaborate  methods.  The  extreme 
nervous  tension  produced  in  the  electors  is  inevitably 


224  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

followed  by  a  reaction.  The  artificial  passion  for  the 
public  weal  at  once  gives  way  to  civic  weariness.  Ex- 
hausted, the  great  mass  of  the  electorate  falls  or  relapses 
into  a  state  of  prostration.  The  "  politicians  "  alone 
are  left  standing  and  masters  of  the  field. 


ELEVENTH  CHAPTER 


THE  POLITICIANS   AND  THE  MACHINE 


I02.  On  the  great  stage  of  electoral  life  which  we  Genesis 
have  just  quitted,  we  have  repeatedly  caught  glimpses  °^  *.^.^. 
of  the  professional  politicians  pulling  the  wires.  To 
grasp  their  action  with  its  causes  and  effects,  we  must 
go  behind  the  scenes,  catch  them  in  their  own  haunts, 
and  make  them,  as  it  were,  sit  to  us  for  their  por- 
traits. 

The  American  politician,  while  constituting  a  sepa- 
rate class  in  American  society,  has  not  a  distinct  origin. 
He  is  recruited  from  all  ranks  of  the  community,  as 
circumstances  and  personal  tastes  happen  to  dictate,  by 
a  process  of  natural  selection.  The  germ  which  pro- 
duces the  politician  is  the  desire  to  obtain  some  public 
office  or  other,  or,  somewhat  less  frequently,  to  exert 
influence  and  power.  Many  simply  like  the  "game." 
Aspirants  of  these  last  categories  may  be  sometimes 
men  of  good  standing.  But  usually  the  aspiring  poli- 
tician is  much  more  likely  to  be  a  low-class  attorney, 
a  small  employee,  or  even  an  artisan,  a  car-conduc- 
tor, down  to  a  declasse,  a  social  failure.  To  realize 
his  ambition,  he  begins  to." study  politics."  It  is  not 
the  "Politics"  of  Aristotle,  nor  even  that  of  Columbia 
College,  biit  it  is  none  the  less  a  science  which/demands 
great  application  and  'certain  natural  aptitudes.    It 

Q  22S 


226  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

consists  of  a  technical  part,  which  includes  a  knowledge 
of  the  machinery  of  the  party  organization,  with  all  its 
wheels  within  wheels,  —  the  primaries,  the  committees, 
the  various  sets  of  conventions,  —  and  of  the  legal 
procedure  in  force  for  making  up  the  register  and 
taking  the  vote.  While  learning  the  ostensible  working 
of  the  party  and  of  the  election  machinery,  the  future 
politician  fathoms  their  inner  working,  the  manoeuvres, 
the  dodges,  and  the  frauds  by  means  of  which  a  mi- 
»  J  nority,  perhaps  an  insignificant  minority,  is  transformed 
into  a  majority,  and  a  semblance  of  popular  sanction  is 
given  to  the  schemes  of  a  gang  of  political  sharpers. 
But  all  these  highly  useful  acquirements  constitute,  so 
to  speak,  only  the  mechanical  side  of  the  politician's 
art,  which  by  itself  will  not  carry  its  man  very  far. 
Getting  a  "The  principal  subject-matter  of  his  "studies"  is  a 
o  owing.  g^j.^  ^£  empirical  psychology.  He  studies  the  men  about 
him  and  their  weak  points,  and  by  trading  on  the  latter 
he  tries  to  get  as  large  a  following  as  possible.  He 
begins  with  his  immediate  neighbours,  who  live  on  the 
same  landing ;  he  extends  his  advances  to  the  inmates  of 
the  whole  house,  and  before  long  to  the  house  next  door 
or  the  next  two  houses.  When  he  has  got  acquainted 
with  a  dozen,  or  even  half  a  dozen,  electors,  who  are 
ready,  often  out  of  mere  friendship,  to  join  him  at  the 
elections,  he  is  the  possessor  of  a  small  political  capital, 
which  he  will  forthwith  turn  over,  and  which  will  be- 
come, perhaps,  the  foundation  of  his  success.  It  is 
like  the  future  millionaire's  first  fifty-dollar  note.  "  Own- 
ing" half  a  dozen  or  a  dozen  votes,  he  is  received  with 
open  arms  by  the  local  organization  of  the  party.  His 
career  of  "ward  politician"  has  begun. 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  227 

In  the  popular  wards  of  the  large  cities  the  small 
politician  has  no  need  to  create  the  political  following 
which  he  forms  around  him ;  he  finds  it  ready  to  hand 
in  social  life,  in  which  neighbourly  ties,  and  above  all 
common  tastes  and  mutual  sympathies,  give  rise  to 
small  sets,  groups  of  people  who  meet  regularly  to  en- 
joy the  pleasures  of  sociability  and  of  friendship,  at  the 
street  comer,  as  long  as  they  are  in  the  youthful  stage, 
then  in  a  drinking-saloon.  These  ''gangs"  are  a  latent 
political  force;  when  the  elections  come  round  they 
may  furnish  compact  bands  of  voters.  The  small  poli- 
tician therefore  has  but  to  lay  his  hand  on  them.  Often 
he  has  himself  grown  up  in  the  gang  and  with  it;  he 
frequently  had  the  opportunity  of  displaying  his  superior 
faculties  of  command  and  of  organization;  his  com-  \^y 
panions  got  into  the  habit  of  following  him  in  every- 
thing. The  agglomerations  of  European  immigrants 
offer  a  no  less  favourable  soil  for  the  growth  of 
the  political  manipulator  of  men.  Germans,  Italians, 
or  Slavs  arrive  without  knowing  the  language,  the 
manners  and  customs,  and  the  institutions  of  the  coun- 
try. But  thereupon  they  find  a  fellow-countryman 
already  naturalized  and  at  home  in  the  New  World, 
who  puts  himself  fraternally  at  their  disposal;  he 
guides  their  early  steps,  he  helps  them  to  look  out  for 
work,  he  appears  on  their  behalf  before  the  public 
authorities;  later  on,  when  the  legal  term  has  expired, 
or  even  earlier,  he  procures  their  naturalization.  Full 
of  gratitude  for  his  friendly  services,  and  of  admiration 
for  his  intelligence,  they  make  over  to  him  with  perfect 
good  faith  the  votes  which  have  just  been  given  them, 
and  which  as  a  rule  they  do  not  know  what  to  do  with. 


228  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

Here  again  is  an  ''owner"  of  votes,  who  will  find  a 
good  investment  for  his  modest  pile  in  the  electoral 
market. 
The  poii-  103.   When  the  influence  of  the  budding  politician 

•^T^^h^^*^  asserts  itself  in  the  precinct,  the  Organization  of  the 
Organiza-  party  formally  invests  him  with  the  position  of  local 
tion;  leader.     He  becomes  its  official  representative  in  the 

precinct  (often  known  by  the  name  of  "captain"), 
and  acquires  an  indefeasible  right  to  a  share  of  the 
profits  realized  by  the  Organization,  that  is,  to  some 
office  suited  rather  to  his  merits  as  a  wire-puller  than 
to  his  special  fitness  for  it.  Often  within  the  ranks  of 
the  party  the  budding  politician  meets  with  rivals  and 
competitors;  each  has  his  knot  of  followers,  and  each 
seeks  to  extend  his  influence.  The  one  who  is  most 
skilful  in  managing  his  fellow-creatures,  who  best  ap- 
praises each  man's  price,  who  is  clever  in  bringing  about 
understandings  and  alliances,  will  come  out  first  and 
will  transform  his  rivals  into  his  trusty  lieutenants. 
They  will  bind  themselves  to  his  car  in  order  to  get  a 
part  of  the  booty,  a  smaller  one,  but  a  more  certain. 
The  immediate  object  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
arena  of  this  "struggle  for  existence"  is  the  local 
primary;  each  strives  to  assert  himself  in  the  primary, 
that  is  to  say,  to  procure  the  election  of  delegates  de- 
voted to  him.  The  competitor  who  succeeds  in  this, 
by  whatever  means,  will  be  "recognized"  by  the  higher 
Organization  of  the  party  impassively  contemplating 
the  struggle, 
improves  In  the  larger  arena  of  the  ward  or  of  the  district, 

his  position,  ^^j.  small  politician  meets  with  other  politicians  of  the 
same  rank,   and  tt^ere  exactly  the  same  process  of 


THE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  229 

natural  selection  takes  place,  one  of  them  achieves  the 
position  of  ''leader,"  gains  an  ascendency  over  all  the 
"ward  politicians."  A  few  of  the  cleverest  leaders 
unite  and  form  a  "ring"  or  a  "combine,"  to  work  up 
the  electoral  raw  material  and  exploit  "what  there  is 
in  it."  The  organization  of  the  politicians  reaches  the 
final  stage  of  its  development  when  the  "leaders"  find 
their  master  in  one  of  their  own  number  who  commands 
obedience  by  his  strength  of  will,  his  cleverness,  his 
audacity,  and  his  luck,  and  who  asserts  himself  per  fas 
et  nefas  in  the  central  conventions  of  the  party,  just  as 
his  prototype,  the  "w^ard  politician,"  asserts  himself  in 
the  primary.  By  a  tacit  agreement  every  one  wheels 
into  line  behind  this  man,  recognizes  him  as  the  su- 
preme chief.  He  is  crowned  city  boss  or  State  boss, 
as  the  case  may  be.  At  the  head  of  his  adherents,  he 
forms  with  them  what  is  called  the  "Machine,"  that  is  Forming  \y 
to  say  an  aggregation  of  individuals  stretching  out 
hierarchically  from  top  to  bottom,  bound  to  one  an- 
other by  personal  devotion,  but  mercenary,  and  bent 
solely  on  satisfying  their  appetites  by  exploiting  the 
resources  of  a  political  party.  The  men  of  the  "Ma- 
chine" do  not  accept  this  nickname,  and  style  them- 
selves "the  Organization,"  usurping  the  name  after 
having  usurped  the  thing,  after  having  "captured"  the 
party  Organization  by  a  series  of  successful  operations 
in  the  primaries  and  the  conventions.  This  distinction 
between  the  Machine  and  the  Organization  often  does 
exist:  the  Organization,  even  when  "playing  the 
game,"  required  by  the  manipulation  of  a  vast  elec- 
torate, has  its  heart  set  on  the  interests  of  the  party, 
while  the  Machine  men  look  out  only  for  themselves. 


of  a  "Ma-' 
chine." 


230 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


!>*' 


Hierarchy 
of  the 
Machine : 


Boys, 


Then  the  Machine,  although  a  constant,  is  far  from 
being  a  general  phenomenon.  For  sake  of  clearness 
in  this  narrative,  I  shall  refer  in  the  meanwhile  to  the 
Machine  as  if  it  covered  the  whole  political  area  of  the 
United  States. 

Sometimes  an  ambitious  and  specially  gifted  poli- 
tician quickens  or  anticipates  the  process  of  natural 
evolution,  he  "builds  a  machine"  from  top  to  bottom; 
he  finds  out  men  capable  of  serving  him  as  lieutenants, 
and  by  his  manoeuvres  spreads  his  net  over  the  whole 
city  or  the  whole  State.  But  if  he  succeeds  in  this,  it  is 
because  the  social  and  political  elements  of  the  Machine 
were  there  ready  to  hand.  Only  one  must  know  how 
to  bring  them  together  and  keep  them  together.  The 
strongest  attraction  and  source  of  cohesion  for  the  poli- 
ticians are  the  public  offices.  Yet  most  of  the  Ma- 
chine men  are  paid  not  so  much  in  ready  money  as  in 
drafts  on  the  future;  they  are  a  singularly  confiding 
race,  and  the  hopes  which  are  held  out  to  them  suffice 
to  keep  their  zeal  alive  for  a  very  long  time.  The  ma- 
terial profits  which  the  politicians  receive  or  expect  for 
their  services  are  seasoned  with  the  social  pleasures 
which  they  enjoy  in  the  gatherings  of  their  particular 
circle. 

104.  All  the  men  of  the  Machine  may  be  divided 
into  three  categories  representing  three  distinct  grades : 
the  ''boys,"  the  ''henchmen,"  and  the  "bosses."  The 
boys  are  the  simple  workers  who  do  the  rough  work,, 
very  often  the  dirty  work  of  politics.  They  are  the 
chief  performers  in  the  primaries:  they  are  always 
there  in  force,  to  support  the  leaders  with  their  lungs, 
and  if  need  be  with  their  fists;   they  make  themselves 


THE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  23 1 

the  docile  instrument  of  the  frauds  and  manoeuvres 
conceived  by  the  ingenious  brain  of  the  managing  ring; 
they  supply  the  claque  at  the  meetings;  they  do  duty 
in  the  processions  and  at  the  parades;  they  go  the 
round  of  the  drinking-saloons  to  pick  up  the  voters; 
they  fetch  them  at  their  residences ;  and  generally  they 
are  always  at  the  heels  of  the  leaders,  which  has  got 
them  the  nickname  of  **  heelers."  Ignorant,  brutal, 
averse  to  regular  work,  the  heelers  are  mostly  recruited 
in  the  ** dangerous"  classes,  criminal  or  semi-criminal, 
from  among  frequenters  of  drinking-saloons,  from 
failures  and  loafers  of  every  description. 

The   henchmen   are  the   lieutenants   and   helps  of  henchmen, 
the  bosses;   they  vary  in  social  position  and  rank  with 
the  position  of  their  masters,  from  the  associate  of  the 
small  local  leader  up  to  the  confidential  man  of  the 
great  boss  who  sits  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
The  henchman  is  a  sort  of  prefect  or  vicar  who  "works" 
for  the  boss,  who  manages  the  subordinate  politicians 
and  the  electorate  on  his  behalf.     He  is  personally 
responsible  to  the  boss  for  the  success  of  his  operations : 
if  he  betrays  want  of  zeal  or  skill  he  is  summarily  dis-  \ 
missed ;  as  soon  as  a  man  is  considered  not  sufficiently  \ 
useful  to  the  Machine  he  is  thrown  over  without  pity. 
Apart  from  political  service  the  henchman  owes  the 
boss  personal  homage,  just  as  his  historical  prototype, 
the  vassal,  owed  it  to  the  lord.     He  cherishes  for  the 
boss  a  devotion  into  which  affection  scarcely  enters,  but  and  bosses, 
which  is  a  mixture  of  the  obedience  of  a  subordinate 
and  of  sincere  admiration  for  the  doughty  chief.     He 
sees  in  him  the  living  embodiment  of  the  virtues  and 
of  the  ideal  of  the  ''politician,"  which  invest  the  latter 


232  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

with  just  as  bright  a  halo  in  the  eyes  of  men  who  have 
risen  in  the  primaries  as  that  which  encircled  the 
mediaeval  knight.  Many  a  boss  keeps  his  henchmen 
at  a  distance,  —  it  is  only  with  feelings  and  gestures  of 
deference  that  they  approach  him ;  others  indulge  in 
more  familiarity  with  their  lieutenants,  but  the  sub- 
ordination always  exists  and  often  goes  as  far  as 
servility,  of  a  kind  to  which  a  hired  domestic  would 
object. 

The  boss  in  his  turn  owes  help  and  protection  to  his 
henchmen:  he  must  defend  them  with  his  person, 
must  forward  their  political  ambitions,  if  they  have 
any,  ensure  them  a  livelihood  if  they  are  not  well  ofiF, 
as  is  the  case  with  most  of  his  lieutenants,  procure 
them  places  in  the  public  service,  and  keep  them 
there,  however  great  their  incompetence  or  neglect  of 
their  duties.  He  will  move  heaven  and  earth  to  place 
his  men,  he  will  risk  his  influence  to  achieve  it.  This 
is  the  first  reward  which  he  claims,  regardless  of  him- 
self, from  the  boss  above  him,  or  from  the  head  of  the 
executive  power  who  makes  appointments.  He  will 
besiege  the  new  President,  and,  like  the  office-seekers 
under  the  first  Harrison,  will  be  ready  to  sleep  in  the 
corridors  of  the  White  House  to  be  the  first  to  catch 
the  President  when  he  wakes:  he  must  have  a  place 
for  his  henchman.  If  the  boss  is  a  member  of  the 
Senate  he  will  not  hesitate,  in  order  to  put  pressure  on 
the  administration,  to  obstruct  an  important  measure 
demanded  by  the  country:  he  must  have  a  place  for 
his  henchman.  It  is  by  no  means  out  of  chivalry  that 
the  boss  thus  devotes  himself  to  his  lieutenants;  if  he 
did  not  exert  himself  actively  on  their  behalf,  no  one 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  233 

would  care  to  "work"  for  such  a  chief;  or,  if  with  all 
his  goodwill  he  were  to  become  unable  to  get  places 
for  his  men,  he  would  meet  the  same  fate :  his  pres- 
tige vanished  into  thin  air,  and  the  boss  would  cease 
to  be  a  boss.  "^ 

But  as  long  as  the  ties  which  unite  them  to  one  an-  Discipline 
other  subsist,  their  mutual  relations  are  ruled  by  an  1^^  l- 

Machine. 

iron  discipline.  A  subordinate  politician  must  put  his 
personal  feelings  completely  on  one  side;  his  likes  and 
dislikes  are  to  order;  he  must  be  ready  to  exchange 
them  one  for  the  other  without  a  moment's  hesitation. 
The  principal  lieutenants  themselves  only  wait  for  the 
word  of  command;  even  when  the  boss  consults  them, 
they  are  under  no  illusion  as  to  their  authority :  he  is 
free  to  listen  to  their  advice  or  not,  as  soon  as  he  has 
given  his  decision  not  a  word  is  spoken.  The  com- 
mittees of  the  party  Organization,  the  ward,  city,  ' 
State  committees,  simply  register  the  will  of  the  boss 
or  of  the  respective  leader,  and  their  members  are  in 
reality  only  figure-heads.  The  great  boss,  the  city  or 
State  boss,  generally  presides  over  the  central  com- 
mittee, but  sometimes  he  puts  in  a  lay-figure  as  his 
substitute.  Although  without  any  real  influence,  the, 
committees  can  depose  the  bosses,  by  electing  another 
chairman  of  the  committee  in  place  of  the  boss  or  of 
his  lay- figure.  This  is  the  formal  proclamation  of  fhe 
deposition  of  the  reigning  boss  to  whom  his  vassals 
renounce  allegiance. 

105.   The  Machine  is  now  built,  the  politicians  are  The 
sorted  and  in  their  proper  places  for  action.     Our  next  "^^^^^^" 
step  is  to  see  them  at  work.     For  this  purpose  we  shall 
begin  by  following  a  politician  of  average  importance 


234  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

whose  intermediary  position  places  him  at  the  centre 
of  action,  such  as  a  sub-boss  in  a  large  city,  a  "district 
leader"  or  a  "ward  leader."  This  "leader"  presents 
himself  to  us  in  the  first  instance  as  the  engineer- in- 
chief  of  the  Machine  for  getting  hold  of  the  base  of 
operations  of  organized  parties  —  the  nominations  for 
elective  posts.  Forestalling  the  role  of  the  primaries 
and  the  conventions,  the  Machine,  as  we  know  already, 
makes  up  the  slate  of  delegates  and  of  candidates  and 
gets  it  simply  registered  by  these  party  assemblies. 
"Deliverer    Having  selected  his  candidates,  the  boss  instructs  the 

of  dele-         "leader"    to    "deliver  a   solid   delegation"   for  these 
gates. 

candidates,  and  the  leader  is  bound  to  "deliver  the 

goods."  If  the  leader  is  unable  to  do  so,  he  signs  his 
deposition  as  leader.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  lieu- 
tenants of  a  boss,  small  or  great,  refuse  to  "  deliver  the 

oods"  to  him,  the  boss  will  not  have  the  wherewithal 
for  carrying  on  his  trade  in  elective  offices.  The  in- 
ternal operations  of  the  Machine  along  the  whole  line 
consist,  therefore,  of  these  deliveries:  each  respective 
leader  is  supposed  to  "deliver  the  delegates"  to  his 
superior,  from  the  delegates  to  the  county  or  district 
convention  up  to  the  delegates  to  the  National  Conven- 
tion. The  district  leader  is  the  first  deliverer.  How 
does  he  get  the  "goods"  himself?  After  the  delivery 
of  the  delegates,  the  electors  must  be  made  to  vote  for 
the  candidates  adopted  by  those  delegates.  The  district 
leader  again  is  the  chief  agent  of  this  operation.  How 
does  he  succeed  in  it  ? 

In  both  cases  he  gains  his  end  by  corruption  and 
by  seduction.     The  sinews  of  corruption  are  supplied"*'^^ 
him  by   the   Machine;    the  means  of  seduction  he 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  235 

derives  from  his  own  resources.  He  is  amiable  with 
everybody,  with  the  lowest  of  the  low ;  he  is  all  things 
to  all  men.  To  offend  no  one,  to  please  every  one, 
that  is  his  motto.  He  is  in  constant  touch  with  alL  the 
electors  of  his  district,  he  knows  their  ins  and  outs, 
the  strong  and  the  weak  points  of  each  man,  and  how 
to  exploit  them.  He  "understands"  all  his  people 
perfectly,  because  he  is  one  of  them  himself;  if  the 
district  is  one  which  swarms  with  the  dregs  of  the 
population,  with  frequenters  of  drinking-saloons,  the 
local  leader _Qf  the  Machine  is  not  much  superior;  6n 
the  other  hand,  in  a  better-class  district  the  leader 
always  has  a  respectable  appearance,  he  speaks  Eng- 
lish correctly,  he  is  pleasing,  and  genial  without  being 
vulgar.  With  these  apparent  virtues  he  combines  cer- 
tain moral  virtues,  a  very  small  stock  it  is  true,  but 
enough  to  ensure  him  esteem  and  general  confidence: 
he  is  a  man  of  courage,  of  strength  of  will,  and  above 
all,  a  man  of  his  word.  No  matter  if  he  is  a  low  wire- 
puller, who  sticks  at  no  fraud,  or  if  he  has  committed 
breaches  of  trust  in  public  offices,  —  he  keeps  his 
promises,  he  is  a  man  of  honour.  This  merit  is  appre- 
ciated in  him  to  the  exclusion  of  all  the  others  because 
everybody  or  nearly  everybody  has  something  to  ask 
of  him. 

106.  All  aspirants  to  public  office  who  inhabit  Dispenser 
''his"  district  apply  to  him,  from  members  of  the  bar  ^f  offices 
who  want  a  judgeship  down  to  crossing-sweepers.  In 
that  district  he  is  the  sole  dispenser  of  all  the  public 
posts  at  the  disposal  of  the  party  Organization.  This 
"^atroilage"  entrusted  to  the  leader  is  not  limited  to 
the  elective  offices.     To  obtain  one  of  the  non-elective 


236  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

posts  in  the  public  departments,  down  to  those  of  office 
messengers,  invariably  given  by  favour,  you  must  have 
what  is  called  a  "pull,"  or  "pulls."  The  public  ser- 
vant who  owes  his  place  to  the  party  Organization,  con- 
tracts obligations  toward  it :  the  representative  of  the 
Organization,  the  leader  of  the  Machine,  has  a  "pull" 
on  him.  If  the  innumerable  places  in  the  public 
service  are  not  sufficient,  the  leader  is  in  a  position  to 
get  his  people  small  places  in  railroads,  in  street-cars, 
and  other  large  private  concerns:  the  companies,  as 
we  are  aware,  have  need  of  "protection,"  and  being 
anxious  to  stand  well  with  the  all-powerful  party  Organi- 
zation, they  always  give  a  good  reception  to  the  appli- 
cations or  recommendations  of  the  leader  of  the  Ma- 
chine: he  has  a  "pull"  on  these  great  employers  of 
labour, 
and  favours.  In  addition  to  positions,  there  are  a  thousand  and 
^  /  one  favours  which  the  representative  of  the  Machine 
can  grant  by  means  of  his  influence,  favours  which 
imply  the  weal  or  woe  of  the  whole  existence  of 
many  humble  folk :  permits  issued  by  the  police  or  by 
other  authorities  for  plying  some  small  trade  or  busi- 
ness on  the  public  thoroughfare,  such  as  that  of  coster- 
monger,  of  boot-black,  of  seller  of  cooling  drinks,  etc. ; 
a  word  from  the  leader  of  the  Machine  is  enough  to 
get  the  poor  fellow  permission  to  set  up  his  improvised 
shop  at  a  street-comer.  It  is  through  the  leader  again 
that  one  can  obtain  a  license  to  open  a  drinking- 
saloon  or  get  it  refused  to  a  competitor.  The  power 
of  his  pulls  extends  even  to  defying  the  law  itself; 
it  ensures  ihipunity  to  misdemeanours,  nay  even  to 
criminal  bffences.     If  the  culprits  are  trusty  followers 


THE  POLITICIANS  AND  THE   MACHINE  237 

of  the  Machine,  the  policemen  will  often  think  twice  inverted 
about  arresting  them.      When  they  are  arrested,  the  tnbune  of 

.  the  people. 

leader  intervenes  and  applies  for  their  release  on — 
bail.  He  provides  the  sum  fixed  by  the  judge  as 
bail,  and  then,  before  the  hearing  comes  on,  tries  to 
get  the  judge  to  dismiss  the  case,  or  at  all  events 
to  obtain  a  considerable  reduction  or  a  commuta- 
tion of  the  penalty.  If  the  matter  is  a  more  serious 
one  and  comes  within  the  province  of  the  prosecuting 
officers,  the  Machine  exerts  its  influence  with  them  to 
get  the  prosecution  dropped.  The  Machine  has  a 
"pull"  on  them  as  it  has  on  all  the  elective  officials. 
If  the  prosecution  cannot  be  stopped,  it  can  be  spun 
out  and  the  decision  postponed.  Whatever  the  gravity 
of  the  case  therefore,  as  soon  as  there  is  any  "  trouble," 
everybody  rushes  off  to  the  leader  of  the  Machine. 
He  is  an  inverted  tribune  of  the  people,  he  defends  the 
obscure  and  the  humble  against  justice,  he  interposes 
between  them  and  the  arm  of  the  law. 

Many  other  citizens  who  have  nothing  to  ask  or  fear  Poor  men's 
from  the  public  authorities,  but  who  are  in  needy  cir-  ^"^^^• 
cumstances,  also  get  help  and  succour  from  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Machine :  to  this  one  he  lends  a  dollar;  - 
for  another  he  obtains  a  railroad  ticket  without  pay- 
ment;  he  has  coal  distributed  in  the  depth  of  winter; 
he  sometimes  sends  poultry  at  Christmas  time;    he 
buys  medicine  for  a  sick  person;   he  helps  to  bury  the 
dead  by  procuring  a  coffin  on  credit  or  at  half  price.    He 
dispenses  an  ample  hospitality  in  the  drinking-saloons ; 
as  soon  as  he  comes  in,  friends  known  and  unknown 
gather  round  him,  and  he  treats  everybody,  he  orders 
one  drink  after  another  for  the  company;    he  is  the 


238 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


"Punish- 
ments" of 
opponents. 


only  one  who  does  not  drink,  he  is  on  duty.  The 
electors  who  are  below  the  favours  or  the  civilities  of 
the  representatives  of  the  Machine  are  bought  right  out 
at  the  market  price.  Each  man  is  taken  at  his  weak 
point.  It  is  like  a  huge  spider's  web  spread  by  the 
Machine  over  the  district.  Every  new  elector  is  drawn 
into  it  at  once.  As  soon  as  he  moves  into  the  locality 
an  enquiry  is  made  about  him  of  the  representatives 
of  the  Machine  in  whose  jurisdiction  his  old  residence 
was  situated,  a  visit  is  paid  him,  an  attempt  is  made 
to  win  him.  An  answer  is  found  in  his  case  to  the 
invariable  question  which  haunts  the  Machine:  what 
does  he  want,  what  would  he  like  to  have?  The  man 
who  does  not  wish  for  anything,  who  does  not  ask  for 
anything,  is  the  most  painful  puzzle  to  the  Machine; 
it  considers  him  almost  a§  a  hateable  being. 

107.  The  favours  of  every  kind  granted  to  those 
who  go  with  the  Machine,  the  "rewards,"  find  a 
corollary  in  the  "punishments"  inflicted  on  those  who 
cross  its  path.  It  deprives  them  of  their  livelihood,  it 
/persecutes  and  molests  them  with  all-  the  resources  of 
^  its  influence.  If  the  man  who  has  incurred  its  ani- 
mosity is  an  employee,  it  gets  him  dismissed  from  his 
situation;  if  he  is  engaged  in  manufactures  or  trade, 
the  leader  sets  on  him  the  police  to  make  a  point  of 
worrying  him  on  the  most  futile  or  imaginary  pretexts; 
at  one  time  the  sanitary  conditions  of  his  establishment 
are  defective,  at  another  the  carriages  or  vans  which 
stand  outside  his  door  impede  the  traffic.  The  tax 
collector  makes  a  minute  investigation  into  the  taxes 
and  licenses  paid  by  the  trader  who  is  in  the  bad  books 
of  the  Machine,  and  discovers  that  he  has  not  been 


THE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  239 

paying  the  proper  sum.  The  saloon-keeper  who  re- 
mained open  after  the  statutory  hour  at  night  and  on 
Sundays,  with  the  countenance  of  the  police,  is  prose- 
cuted and  fined  heavily  as  soon  as  he  has  lost  the  favour 
of  the  Machine.  The  wretched  peddler  at  the  street- 
comer  does  not  escape  the  vengeance  of  the  Machine 
any  more  than  the  millionaires;  his  permit  is  with- 
-drawn.  To  vindicate  its  slighted  authority,  the  Ma- 
chine makes  use  of  everything,  even  of  corpses,  as  in 
the  case  of  Tammany,  which,  in  order  to  give  a  too 
independent  undertaker  a  lesson,  instructed  the  munici- 
pal eihiployees  at  its  beck  and  call  to  put  him  on  short 
commons,  to  send  him  only  one  dead  body  a  month. 

While  bringing^  their  efforts  to  bear  on  individual  Alliance 
electors,  the  leaders  of  the  Machine  also  make  great  ^^^^  !°^^^' 
exertions  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of  men  who  through  fluences. 
their  position  or  their  business  can  procure  them  ad- 
hesions in  a  lump,  who  can  serve  as  recruiting  sergeants. 
For  this  purpose  they  make  friends  in  the  workmen's 
trade  unions,  in  the  factories  and  the  workshops,  and 
even  descend  to  the  lowest  step  in  the  social  ladder  to 
get  useful  help ;  they  get  hold  of  the  keepers  of  lodging-  ♦ 

houses,  of  gambling-houses,  and  of  every  kind  of  den 
frequented  by  the  criminal  or  semi-criminal  class,  of  the 
saloon-keepers,  by  ensuring  them  protection  against  the 
police  and  the  law,  or  by  paying  them  directly.  The 
co-operation  of  the  saloon-keepers  is  particularly  appre- 
ciated, and  very  often  the  Machine  takes  them  into 
partnership,  and  confers  on  one  of  them  the  post  of 
"captain "of  the  precinct  in  which  his  saloon  is  situated. 
The  saloon-keepers  do  not  always  confine  themselves  to 
the  r6le  of  humble  auxiliaries  of  the  Machine;  their 


'240 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE  PARTY   SYSTEM 


Strategy 
tried  on 
the  re- 
spectable 
voters.    / 


influence  develops  their  ambitions  and  appetites,  and 
sometimes  gives  them  access  to  municipal  councils,  and 
even  to  State  legislatures,  where  they  look  after  the  in- 
terests of  their  trade,  and  prostitute  their  official  position 
to  every  form  of  corruption. 

Such  is  the  leader  and  his  methods  in  the  popular 
precincts,  in  the  "down-town''  districts.  In  the  "up- 
town" districts,  inhabited  by  people  in  better  circum- 
stance and  of  greater  intelligence,  the  leader  himself  and 
the  voters  are  above  those  methods.  The  leader  in 
such  districts  is  usually  a  decent  enough  man.  He  may 
have  gone  into  politics  for  love  of  the  sport  or  from  ambi- 
tion. Not  unfrequently  he  is  less  disinterested,  he  wants 
to  improve  his  position,  in  his  profession  or  in  his  busi- 
ness. He,  too,  is  "playing  the  game,"  he  is  dispensing 
offices  and  favours,  he  is  bent  on  inveigling  the  voters, 
but  his  endeavours  do  not  display  the  ugly  features  of 
the  leader  working  in  the  slums. 

108.  The  operations  of  the  "leaders,"  which  bear 
on  the  lower  strata  of  the  population,  may  suffice  to 
"fix  the  primaries,"  to  form  the  conventions  of  dele- 
gates to  the  Machine's  liking,  and  to  bring  the  big 
battalions  up  to  the  poll.  But  there  is  the  respectable 
portion  of  the  electorate  which  can  assert  itself  at  the 
election  day  and  reject  the  candidates  of  the  Machine, 
who  are  usually  the  reverse  of  being  the  worthiest  men. 
These  latter  could  not  serve  the  Machine.  To  thrust 
the  Machine  candidates  on  the  bulk  of  the  party,  there 
is  often  required  a  higher  strategy  and  a  special  sort  of 
tactics  which  test  the  sagacity  of  the  heads  of  the  Ma- 
chine themselves,  of  the  boss,  or  of  the  managing  ring. 
The  A  B  C  of  the  strategy  of  the  Machine  is  to  shuffle 


THE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  24I 

the  electoral  pack.  At  the  municipal  election  the  issue  Confusion 
is  never  the  good  government  of  the  city,  the  state  of  ?  ^  ® 
the  pavements  or  the  drainage,  but  the  Protectionist 
tariff,  or  Cuba,  or  the  Philippines.  Why,  this  particular 
city  election  will  predetermine  the  result  of  the  impend- 
ing State  election,  or  even  of  the  presidential  election 
—  is  this  the  time  to  look  closely  into  the  merit  of  this 
or  that  local  candidate?  The  Machine  includes  men 
whose  political  morality  provokes  strong  animadver- 
sions; it  has  governed  the  city  or  the  State  like  a 
satrapy.  There  is,  perhaps,  an  element  of  truth  in 
this  charge;  but  is  it  fair  to  mak€  the  party  pay  for 
the  individual  faults  of  a  few  of  its  servants?  The 
enemy  is  at  the  gates,  and  it  is  the  "life  of  the 
party,"  of  that  grand,  that  noble  party,  which  must 
be  saved;  who  will  lift  a  parricidal  hand  against  it? 
Sometimes  the  stake  is  still  higher;  the  party  which 
the  Machine  claims  to  serve  is  identified  with  a  prob- 
lem which  closely  concerns  the  daily  existence  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  citizens,  such  as  the  protection  of 
the  national  industries  or  the  currency.  The  defeat  of 
the  party  means  financial  ruin  followed"  by  the  advent 
of  anarchy  and  socialism;  under  such  circumstances 
what  do  men  signify?  it  is  the  flag  which  must  be  fol- 
lowed. And  each  time  the  issue  is  an  exceptional  one,  . 
which  makes  it  imperative  to  vote  the  party  ticket  as  it 
stands,  to  vote  even  for  a  "yellow  dog." 

This  card-shuffling  game  is  very  often  complicated 
by  the  fact  that  the  Machine  slips  spurious  cards  into 
the  pack;  it  puts  forward  perfectly  respectable  men 
whose  reputation  and  social  position  appear  to  pre- 
clude the  idea  that  they  would  make  themselves  liege- 


242 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Figure- 
heads. 


Dummies. 


U 


men  of  the  Machine;  but  owing  to  their  weakness  of 
character  and  want  of  perspicacity  they  become,  with- 
out being  aware  of  it,  tools  in  the  hands  of  the  astute 
leaders  of  the  Machine;  they  do  what  the  Machine 
wants,  and  shield  it  with  their  respectability.  These 
ornamental  candidates  are  known  by  the  name  of 
"figure-heads."  The  figure-head  is  almost  a  classic 
character,  he  is  to  be  found  at  every  stage  of  po- 
litical life  directed  by  the  party  Organization:  in  the 
nominating  conventions,  especially  in  the  State  conven- 
tions, in  the  important  elective  offices,  such  as  that  of 
mayor,  sometimes  in  the  post  of  State  Governor,  and 
much  more  rarely  in  Congress.  Another  species  of 
candidate  with  which  the  Machine  hoodwinks  the 
electors  consists  of  "dummies,"  imaginary  candidates. 
Thus  the  Machine,  fearing  that  its  real  candidate  whom 
it  has  in  its  mind  may  be  rejected  by  the  electors  on 
account  of  his  disreputableness,  puts  forward  another 
candidate  ten  times  more  disreputable.  This  odious 
I  candidature  provokes  a  revolt  of  the  public  conscience. 
[Bowing  to  public  opinion,  the  Machine  humbly  gives 
way  and  withdraws  its  man,  substituting  for  him  the 
other  whom  it  had  selected  w  petto.  The  public 
thereupon  accepts  this  latter  as  the  lesser  of  the  two 
evils  with  a  veritable  sense  of  relief,  and  congratulates 
itself  on  the  fresh  proof  which  it  has  just  given  of  the 
omnipotence  of  free  opinion  in  a  democracy,  the  mere 
manifestation  of  which  is  sufficient  to  make  the  politi- 
cal bandits  hide  their  heads.  The  superlatively  odious 
candidate  who  has  voluntarily  retired  is  a  dummy. 

169.   It  is  not  uncommon  for  the  part  of   dummy 
to  be  played  by  the  Machine  of  the  opposite  party. 


THE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  243 

If  this  latter  is  not  strong  enough  to  carry  its  own  ticket,  Collusion 

of  the  riv 
Machines. 


it  prefers  to  come  to  terms  with  its  rival,  to  help  it  to  °^  *^^  "^^^ 


elect  its  candidates,  in  order  to  get  a  share  of  the  spoils 
as  its  reward.  With  this  object  it  makes  weak  nomina- 
tions, it  chooses  for  the  party  which  it  represents  candi- 
dates likely  rather  to  repel  than  attract  the  electors;  it 
dooms  them  to  failure  beforehand,  in  order  to  ensure 
the  success  of  the  supposedly  hostile  Machine.  These 
Machiavellian  combinations  are,  however,  only  some  of 
the  forms  assumed  by  the  co-operation  of  hostile  Ma- 
chines which,  instead  of  fighting  each  other,  often  find 
it  more  profitable  to  come  to  terms,  and  to  make 
''deals."  They  "trade"  the  votes  of  the  electors;  the  "Deals." 
Democratic  Machine  gives  its  votes  to  the  Republican 
candidate  for  the  post  of  Governor,  in  return  for  which 
the  Republican  Machine  helps  to  carry  the  Democratic 
ticket  at  the  city  elections.  When  a  formidable  move- 
ment of  independent  electors,  of  "reformers,"  breaks 
out,  an  understanding  between  the  two  Machines  often 
seems  to  them  the  obvious  course  —  to  save  the  Machine 
regime,  the  spoils  system  which  supports  the  politicians. 

When  the  independents  of  its  own  party  become  a  Pacifying 
danger,  the  Machine  resorts  to  the  "harmony"  dodge:  *^^  ^"^^" 

.  ir  1  ,  .       r  r  pcndcnts. 

it  makes  fervent  appeals  to  them  in  favour  of  con- 
cord, is  lavish  of  promises  of  good  government,  sub- 
scribes to  everything  proposed  in  the  way  of  declarations 
of  principles,  of  programmes,  provided  that  it  is  allowed 
to  have  the  candidates.  At  a  pinch,  it  allows  the  re- 
calcitrants a  portion  of  the  ticket ;  it  flings  the  Cerberus 
of  public  opinion  a  few  elective  posts  bestowed  on 
highly  respectable  persons;  if  possible,  it  selects  them 
from  the  class  of  figure-heads,  otherwise  it  acquiesces  in 


244  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

the  complete  abandonment  of  these  offices.  If  the  brute 
is  savage  and  has  sharp  teeth,  the  Machine  throws  it  a 
few  more  sops.  If  public  opinion  declares  with  special 
force  in  favour  of  a  certain  candidature,  the  Machine 
hastens  to  adopt  it.  The  flexibility  with  which  the 
Machine  tries  to  adapt  itself  to  circumstances  has  no 
limits ;  it  is  capable,  in  order  to  mislead  public  opinion, 
of  changing  its  skin,  of  becoming  quite  "  respectable," 
and  of  appearing  exclusively  taken  up  with  the  public 
weal,  of  even  hoisting  the  standard  of  "  reform,"  of 
starting  on  a  crusade  against  the  corruption  of  the  politi- 
cians, especially  when  that  corruption  is  embodied  in 
the  Machine  of  the  opposite  party.  All  this  lasts  just 
so  long  as  is  required  for  the  storm  to  blow  over ;  when 
the  popular  effervescence  has  subsided,  the  Machine 
will  revert  to  its  old  ways.  Except  in  periods  of  crisis, 
it  cares  little  for  what  honest  folk  think  of  its  deeds  or 
misdeeds ;  it  reckons  on  the  indifference  and  the  apathy 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  electors.  Experience  but  rarely 
contradicts  it;  in  quiet  times  it  can  manipulate  the 
candidatures  as  it  likes,  and  that  is  enough  to  make  it 
master  of  the  position.  The  whole  business  of  hood- 
winking public  opinion,  to  which  the  Machine  devotes 
itself,  is  powerfully  seconded  by  the  party  Press. 
Absolute  no.    Being  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  Machine  holds 

power  of  the  keys  of  the  electoral  situation,  everybody  whose 
over  cand^  interests  are  affected  thereby  acknowledges  its  power, 
dates;  whether  they  like  it  or  not.     The  candidates  of  the  party 

are  the  first  to  realize  that  they  are  not  at  liberty  to  attain 
their  object  independently  of  the  Machine,  and  still  less 
in  opposition  to  it.  With  the  great  majority  of  candi- 
dates, the  enormous  election  expenses  and  the  technical 


THE  POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  245 

complexity  of  the  election  business  are  quite  enough 
to  prevent  them  from  courting  the  popular  suffrages 
with  their  own  resources ;  if  an  aspirant  is  not  approved 
by  the  Machine  of  the  party  to  which  he  claims  to  be- 
long, he  must  construct  a  Machine  for  himself,  —  like 
a  traveller  who  would  build  a  railroad  for  his  own  use. 
Aided  by  the  conditions  with  which  we  are  familiar, 
the  Machine  has  succeeded  in  transforming  the  elec- 
tions into  an  industry,  exploited  like  other  industrial 
concerns,  on  the  method  of  concentration  of  capital  and 
labour  applied  to  the  raw  material.     Being  able  to 
deliver  its  product  on  the  most  favourable  terms,  it 
takes  orders,  it  contracts  for  elections:    does  any  one 
wish  to  become  municipal  councillor  or  member  of  the     y. 
legislature,  he  has  but  to  come  to  terms  with  the  Ma-    '  • 
chine,  to  "  see"  the  boss  and  settle  the  price ;  the  Machine 
undertakes  the  rest.     As  it  enjoys  a  monopoly  in  its 
line  of  business,  the  Machine  can  refuse  offers  without 
giving  any  reason,  that  is  to  say,  forbid  an  aspirant  to 
become  a  candidate.     Again,  the  tradition  of  local  can- 
didatures which  excludes  candidates  not  residing  in  the 
constituency  prevents  the  aspirant  shown  out  by  the 
boss  from  trying  his  political  luck  in  another  constitu- 
ency.    The  boss  has  thus  absolute   power   over   the 
candidates,  he  can  admit  them  into  or  shut  them  out 
of  political  life  at  will. 

After   having   got   into   office   they   are  still   under  over 
the  Machine's  thumb:    every  public  official  must  put  executive 
all  his  influence  at  its  disposal,  that  which  his  office 
procures  him  as  well  as  his  own.     The  Executive,  and 
in  general  the  officials  who  are  at  the  head  of  a  de- 
partment, are  the  first  prey  of  the  Machine,  for  they 


246  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

dispose  of  what  the  Machine  wants  above  all  things,  — 
the  subordinate  offices  in  the  public  administration 
with  which  it  pays  its  henchmen  and  its  workers.  The 
departmental  chiefs  make  over  to  it  the  patronage  which 
is  entrusted  to  them  by  law.  The  municipal  Machine 
claims  it  from  the  mayor;  the  State  Machine  gets 
the  State  offices  from  the  Governor ;  the  State  boss  ex- 
torts the  nominations  to  the  Federal  places  of  his  State 
from  the  President  of  the  United  States.  And  each  of 
them  yields  usually  to  the  exigencies  and  entreaties  of 
the  particular  Machine,  for  the  same  reasons  as  in  the 
case  of  the  President  have  already  been  disclosed  in 
the  historical  sketch  of  the  system  of  party  organization. 
These  reasons  apply  with  still  greater  force  to  the 
lower  officials.  Here,  for  instance,  is  a  local  official 
of  ^s  high  a  rank  as  State  Governor;  he  is  not  in  needy 
circumstances,  he  is  sometimes  very  rich,  a  millionaire ; 
but  his  political  future  depends  entirely  on  the  Machine, 
it  is  the  Machine  which  has  taken  him  out  of  obscurity, 
and  if  it  drops  him  he  will  fall  back  into  it ;  yet  he  has 
further  ambitions,  he  would  like  to  become  Senator  of 
the  United  States,  or  he  even  dreams  of  the  White  House. 
The  men  of  the  Machine  are  always  at  him,  and  weak 
character  as  he  generally  is,  he  soon  yields,  though  a 
man  of  good  intentions.  At  the  best,  oscillating  be- 
tween fear  of  public  opinion  and  fear  of  the  Machine, 
he  will  wear  himself  out  in  concessions,  now  to  one  and 
now  to  the  other.  It  is  not  only  the  patronage  that  the 
Governor  exercises  in  the  Machine's  favour,  under  its 
pressure.  Wherever  the  boss  "owns'*  the  Governor, 
as  the  saying  goes,  he  makes  him  veto  the  decisions  of 
the  legislature  which  thwart  the  Machine,  makes  him 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  247 

pardon  the  electoral  tricksters  or  the  unfaithful  offi- 
cials belonging  to  the  Machine,  who  happened  to  have 
been  convicted. 

These  latest  years,  however,  have  witnessed  a  greater 
independence  of  State  Governors  and  other  high  offi- 
cials from  the  Machine.  Many  of  them  on  entering 
office  consider  it  necessary  to  reassure  public  opinion  by 
declaring  their  independence  of  bosses  and  party  organi- 
zations. Some  of  them  are  even  waging  war  on  the 
Machines. 

III.  The  legislative  power,  too,  is  prone  to  fall  over  the 
into  the  clutches  of  the  Machines,  especially  the  State  ^^g^gj^^^'g. 
legislatures  and  the  municipal  assemblies.  In  each 
legislative  assembly  the  Machine  *'owns"  a  certain  y 
number  of  members  whose  election  expenses  it  has  paid ;  / 
these  tools  of  the  Machine  form  a  nucleus  which  is 
quickly  developed  by  intimidation  and  corruption 
brought  to  bear  on  the  independent  members.  In 
a  later  chapter  we  shall  see  how  the  Organization  men, 
wielding  the  scourge  of  party  discipline  within  the  As- 
sembly through  the  legislative  caucus,  make  themselves 
the  masters  of  the  House.  Even  uncompromising  mem^ 
bers  are  brought  to  their  knees  by  the  risk  of  their  bills, 
in  which  their  constituents  are  particularly  interested, 
being  thwarted.  Some  members  sell  themselves ;  others, 
and  they  are  more  numerous,  honest  men,  generally 
from  the  country  districts,  succumb  to  the  schemes  of 
the  agents  of  corruption  who  set  traps  for  them,  entice 
them  into  bad  courses,  lead  them  into  gambling,  etc. 
The  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  who  is  not  only  a  modera- 
tor but  exerts  tremendous  influence  on  legislation,  is  a 
creature  of  the  Machine,  chosen  at  its  behests.    In  the 


248  DEMOCRACY   AND  THE  PARTY   SYSTEM 

last  analysis  the  Machine  is  the  master  of  the  Legislature. 
The  "  power  behind  the  throne  greater  than  the  throne" 
ceases  even  to  be  a  figure  of  speech,  it  may  become  a 
material  reality  as  in  the  Legislature  of  Missouri,  where 
the  boss  used  to  sit  behind  a  curtain  at  the  back  of  the 
Chair  and  send  his  orders  or  amendments  to  bills.  The 
legislation  which  the  Machine  demands  or  extorts  from 
the  State  assemblies  is  very  varied :  sometimes  it  is  the 
creation  of  new  offices  to  be  distributed  among  the 
politicians;  fiscal  and  other  favours  to  the  companies 
which  are  its  financial  backers;  the  reduction  of  their 
taxes;  the  creation  of  monopolies  in  favour  of  private 
individuals. 

The  Machine  interferes  in  a  similar  way  with  muni- 
cipal government,  which  is  even  the  principal  sphere 
of  its  activity  and  evil  deeds,  as  we  are  already  aware 
from  the  historical  sketch  of  the  caucus  system.  It  is 
more  easy  to  "build  a  Machine"  in  a  city  than  in  a 
State :  the  spoil  awaits,  so  to  speak,  the  bosses  and  the 
plundering  rings  —  contracts  to  be  adjudged,  public 
works  to  be  given  out,  *' franchises"  to  be  granted,  and 
sinecures  to  be  created  in  the  municipal  departments,  or 
rather  on  the  pay-rolls.  And  if  the  Machine  is  brought 
to  perfection,  the  municipal  councils  are  not  less  respon- 
sive to  the  bosses  than  the  State  assemblies.  A  well- 
known  writer  who  investigated  a  boss-ridden  city  re- 
marked sarcastically  to  the  boss :  ''Of  course,  you  have 
a  mayor,  and  a  council  and  judges?  "  —  "  Yes,  but  I 
have  a  telephone  too,"  answered  the  boss. 
over  the  The  administration  of  justice  itself  does  not  escape 

judiciary.      ^he  influence  of  the  Machine,  for  the  judges,  being  elec- 
tive officials,  are,  like  the  others,  in  need  of  being  put 


THE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  249 

on  the  slate.  The  subordinate  magistrates,  the  police 
justices,  taken  very  often  from  among  the  "henchmen" 
of  the  Machine,  are  generally  its  humble  servants. 
They  help  the  Machine  to  control  the  lower  strata  of  the . 
electors,  their  duties  making  them  the  nearest  and  the 
most  influential  public  authority,  next  to  the  police,  with 
the  masses.  Of  the  higher  magistrates  the  Machine 
wields  the  most  pernicious  influence  over  the  prosecuting 
officers,  by  making  them,  as  has  already  been  mentioned, 
dismiss  or  suspend  prosecutions  against  its  protdg^s. 
The  higher  judiciary,  chosen  with  more  regard  for  the 
importance  of  their  office,  discharge  their  duties  fairly 
honourably  so  long  as  "politics"  are  not  involved;  but 
whenever  the  interests  of  the  party  and  of  its  Ma- 
chine are  at  stake  they  are  liable  to  be  influenced  by 
party  considerations.  The  boss  can  make  them  atone 
for  their  independence;  a  frown  from  the  boss  is 
enough  to  put  an  end  to  the  most  brilliant  and  most 
dignified  judicial  career;  having  got  the  judge  elected 
the  Machine  considers  it  has  "the  right,"  as  the  Tam- 
many boss  put  it  recently,  "  to  expect  proper  considera- 
tion at  his  hands." 

Thus  there  is  no  sphere  of  public,  political,  and 
economic  activity  into  which  the  Machine  does  not 
penetrate,  in  which  it  does  not  wield  an  influence  used 
solely  for  its  own  interests.  A  detailed  analysis  of  the 
resources  supplied  by  each  of  these  spheres  to  the 
operations  and  the  schemes  of  a  Machine,  in  a  large  city 
or  in  a  State,  would  present  a  really  formidable  whole, 
transcending  in  importance  all  that  a  legitimate  govern- 
ment, however  vast  its  powers,  can  aspire  to. 


TWELFTH   CHAPTER 

THE  POLITICIANS   AND   THE    MACHINE    (conclusion) 

The  boss.  112.   The  extraordinary  powers,  unparalleled  under 

the  regime  of  free  institutions,  which  the  Machine  exer- 
cises, centre  eventually  in  a  single  man  —  the  boss. 
What  sort  of  man,  then,  is  this,  who  is  able  to  wield 
such  an  authority?  Let  us  look  more  closely  at  the 
personage  who  is  the  embodiment  of  the  politicians  and 
their  works. 

Two  principal  species  may  be  pointed  out  in  the  genus 
boss :  the  city  boss  and  the  State  boss.  The  type  is 
exactly  the  same,  only  the  features  differ:   coarser  in 

His  career,  the  one,  they  are  often  more  refined  in  the  other.  The 
origin  of  the  boss  is  always  very  humble,  especially  that 
of  the  city  boss.  This  latter  is  a  ''self-made"  man  in 
the  strict  sense  of  the  word.  In  the  majority  of  cases, 
of  foreign,  very  likely  Irish,  extraction,  the  child  of 
parents  who  have  recently  immigrated,  or  having  him- 
self landed  on  American  soil  at  a  very  early  age,  he 
has  begun  his  public  career  in  the  streets  of  a  large 
city  as  newspaper  seller,  street-car  conductor,  actor  in 
a  travelling  circus,  or,  better  still,  waiter  to  a  saloon- 
keeper, Irish  like  himself.  There  he  was  initiated  into 
the  mysteries  of  "paltics"  by  the  conversations  of  the 
heelers  and  the  ward  politicians;  he  learnt  to  fathom 
the  recesses  of  the  human  heart,  disclosed  by  the  gen- 

250 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  251 

erous  properties  of  drink;  and,  having  felt  his  voca- 
tion, he  enlisted  in  the  army  of  heelers,  with  the 
baton  of  boss  in  his  knapsack.  From  a  '* repeater" 
(a  man  who  votes  several  times  over  under  feigned 
names)  he  quickly  became  head  of  a  gang  of  repeaters, 
and  then  precinct  leader.  In  the  meanwhile  he  has, 
perhaps,  mounted  still  higher  on  the  politico-social 
ladder  by  becoming  himself  a  saloon-keeper.  Or,  less 
fortunate,  he  has  found  his  means  of  subsistence  and  his 
social  position  in  a  sinecure  which  the  Machine  has  pro- 
cured for  him  in  the  municipal  administration. 

Extending  his  influence  from  day  to  day,  he  con- 
structed a  small  local  machine ;  with  its  aid  he  became 
a  member  of  the  city  council,  that  promised  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey  in  the  form  of  contracts  for  public 
-works  or  even  of  "  franchises,"  of  the  monopolies  coveted 
by  wealthy  corporations.  As  district  leader,  he  swal- 
lowed up  the  other  less  able  district  leaders  and  wis  left 
without  a  rival.  A  vulgar  demagogue,  he  got  the  mob 
on  his  side,  and,  by  dealing  in  its  votes,  he  became  the 
Cassar  of  the  Machine  and  of  the  city.  This  stirring  and 
laborious  career  has  sometimes  been  within  an  ace 
of  being  stopped  by  still  more  dramatic  incidents,  such 
a^  a  criminal  prosecution  for  homicide  or  less  serious 
encounters  with  the  law.  .However,  he  will  perhaps  have 
lost  nothing  by  waiting;  as  it  were  by  chance,  justice 
may  suddenly  wake  up,  and,  like  his  illustrious  ancestor, 
Tweed,  he  may  some  day  forget  the  cares  of  power  in  the 
peaceful  retirement  of  a  prison. 

[^^fhe  State  boss  is  generally  of  American  origin.  He 
has  had  a  more  respectable  career,  although  in  certain 
cases   his  past  would  not   bear  closely  looking  into. 


252  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

Having  entered  "politics"  young,  the  future  State  boss 
has  built  up  his  fortune  slowly,  by  the  same  methods  as 
the  lower  boss.  Working  as  underling  for  a  big  boss, 
doing  his  jobs  in  every  part  of  the  State,  he  has  made 
friends  with  the  local  politicians,  he  has  found  out  their 
strong  and  their  weak  points,  and  has  discerned  the  use 
which  he  can  make  of  each  man.  With  the  most  power- 
ful of  them  he  has  concluded  offensive  and  defensive 
alliances.  Strengthened  by  these  friendships  and  these, 
supports,  extending  over  the  whole  State,  some  wholly 
interested,  others  not  unmixed  with  personal  affection, 
he  has  got  himself  accepted  as  dispenser  of  Federal 
patronage,  and,  after  a  series  of  lucky  operations  with 
this  capital,  has  ended  by  sweeping  the  whole  State  into 
the  sphere  of  his  influence. 
Psychology  113.  This  brilliant  Career  of  a  man  who  from  such  a 
of  the  boss,  humble  start  has  risen  to  be  master  of  the  government 
of  a  large  city  or  of  ^  State,  —  without,  as  a  rule,  filling 
any  official  position,  —  is,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  the 
triumph  of  one  supreme  quality :  skill  in  the  manage- 
ment of  menTJ  With  an  inevitably  limited  stock  of  good 
things  to  be  provided  for  an  unlimited  number  of  ap- 
petites, he  performs  the  miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes, 
discerning  exactly  the  right  slice  and  cutting  off  just 
the  proper  quantity  to  be  given  to  each  man.  --To  some 
he  offers  the  solid  food  of  places,  of  money,  and  of  pulls; 
to  others  the  unsubstantial  diet  of  promises.  He  plays 
with  wants  and  appetites,  with  credulity  and  vanity,  as 
with  so  many  counters.  He  is  admirably  equipped  for 
this  game  by  his  mind,  which  is  profoundly  calculating, 
cool,  incapable  of  yielding  to  the  impulse  of  the  moment, 
but  very  capable  of  taking  sudden  and  bold  resolu- 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  253 

tions  to  meet  the  situation.  With  this  uniform  type  of 
mind,  which  is  the  distinctive  mark  of  the  species,  the 
particular  temperaments  vary;  there  is  the  brutal, 
coarse,  overbearing  boss ;  the  amiable  and  even  seduc- 
tive, or  "magnetic"  boss.  But  the  affability  never 
goes  so  far  as  expansiveness :  the  boss  is  naturally 
reserved,  coiled  up.-  - 

This  Moltke  of  the  Machine  has  all  the  less  difficulty 
in  being  taciturn  that  he  does  not  know  the  six  languages 
in  which  the  great  German  chief  of  the  staff  was  silent; 
the  boss  often  does  not  even  know^his  own,  he  cannot 
speak  or  write  English  correctly.  L4n  fact,  the  education 
which  the  boss  has  received  is  generally  of  the  poorest; 
he  has  hardly  attended  the  primary  school.  Yet  ow- 
ing to  the  resourceful  intelligence  and  the  dogged  energy 
which  distinguish  the  American,  many  a  boss,  and  es-i 
pecially  those  who  have  risen  to  the  position  of  State 
boss,  ends  by  acquiring  a  certain  polish  which  shows 
itself  not  only  in  his  dress  and  his  manners,  but  appears 
to  fill  the  gaps  of  his  early  very  defective  education. , 

^Cultivated  or  without  culture,  the  boss  is,  in  any 
event,  a  man  of  superior  intelligence,  but  of  an  alto- 
gether special  kind  of  superiority,  which  shows  itself  in  a 
very  delicate  appreciation  of  particular  situations.  He 
is  incapable  of  grasping  principles;  his  ideas  in  politics 
are  hard  to  discover :  he  has  none,  and  does  not  need 
them.  That  is  not  the  compass  he  uses ;  it  is  the  wind 
of  circumstance  and  of  personal  issues  which  steers 
the  course  of  the  boss.  He  is  incapable  of  stating  his 
views  on  the  problems  of  the  day.  He  is  neither  a 
writer,  nor  a  speaker,  nor  even  a  good  talker;  on  the 
stump  he  would  cut  a  poor  figure.     The  few   orators 


254  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

who  have  been  discernible  among  the  higher  bosses,  the 
senatorial  bosses,  even  the  most  brilliant  of  these  orators, 
such  as  Roscoe  Conkling,  were  simply  rhetoricians  and 
fighters,  who  looked  at  the  great  questions  of  the  day 
in  their  personal  aspect,  with  reference  to  the  persons 
who  were  involved  in  the  various  controversies;  they 
never  connected  their  names  with  a  legislative  measure 
or  left  any  other  lasting  trace  of  their  activity. 

The  opportunism  of  which  the  boss  is  the  living  em- 
bodiment does  not  allow  him  to  risk  taking  the  initiative ; 
he  prefers  to  walk  in  the  shadow  of  public  opinion.  In- 
capable of  contributing  to  the  movement  of  ideas,  he 
finds  it  difficult  to  understand  them,  he  grasps  public 
opinion  only  in  its  crystallized  state,  so  to  speak;  its 
aspirations  and  its  impulses  escape  him,  and  its  revolts 
take  him  by  surprise.  Observing  and  appraising  man- 
kind in  detail,  by  their  pettinesses,  the  boss  is  not  quali- 
fied to  appreciate  the  moral  forces  of  human  nature ;  a 
profound  judge  of  men,  he  does  not  understand  man. 
He  never  credits  the  citizen  in  general  with  virtue  and 
intelligence,  he  is  not  aware  that  these  qualities  exist; 
his  skill  lies  in  seizing  on  the  weaknesses  of  men.  Thfe 
few  moral  virtues  of  the  politician  which  he  possesses  are 
narrowed  in  their  exercise  in  the  same  way;  he  is  de- 
voted, up  to  the  point  of  self-sacrifice,  to  his  friends;  a 
man  of  his  word,  he  is  so  as  long  as  particular  persons 
are  concerned ;  if  he  has  promised  places  or  favours  he 
looks  on  his  promises  as  sacred ;  but  if  he  has  promised 
reforms  on  the  eve  of  the  elections  he  snaps  his  fingers 
at  them  the  day  after.  The  courage  and  the  confidence 
in  himself  which  distinguish  him  in  his  acts  fail  him  in 
the  domain  of  ideas;  growing  timorous  all  of  a  sudden, 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  255 

he  stealthily  watches  public  opinion  to  see  if  he  can  ven- 
ture to  go  ahead  without  suffering  for  it. 

114.  The  methods  of  the  boss  are  exactly  adapted  to  Ways  of 
his  mind :  he  does  not  like  discussion,  the  clash  of  ideas ;  ^^^  ^^^' 
he  is  a  man  of  underhand  action.  He  shuns  the  light 
of  day ;  his  element  is  intrigue,  and  he  revels  in  it.  He 
arranges  everything  secretly  and  keeps  silence  and 
makes  his  lieutenants  keep  silence  until  the  moment 
comes  for  facing  the  public.  But,  while  working  in  the 
dark,  the  boss  does  not  hide  himself,  he  wields  his  power 
quite  openly.  The  Press  is  not  sparing  of  publicity  for 
his  person,  his  sayings  and  doings;  his  supposed  plans 
are  constantly  commented  upon.  This  publicity  is  by 
no  means  distasteful  to  him :  he  is  treated  as  if  he  were 
a  great  statesman.  It  must  be  added  that  the  public  Popularity 
also  takes  pleasure,  a  melodramatic  pleasure,  in  follow-  °^  ^^^  ^^^' 
ing  the  sayings  and  doings  of  the  bossj  He  appears 
to  them,  according  to  the  description  of  newspapers 
which  are  not  in  the  habit  of  laying  on  the  colours  too 
thinly,  as  a  sort  of  Mephistopheles  and  Cagliostro  rolled 
into  one,  who  has  endless  tricks  up  his  sleeve.  What 
is  he  going  to  bring  out  of  it  now,  what  is  he  going  to  do, 
what  has  he  just  done  —  are  so  many  questions  and 
hypotheses  which  help  to  break  the  monotony  of  Ameri- 
can life.  It  should  be  admitted  that  this  curiosity  is 
not  the  only  feeling  which  gains  the  boss  his  undeniable 
popularity.  This  man  who,  sprung  from  nothing,  has 
reached  the  very  top  of  the  tree,  strikes  the  imagination 
of  the  Americans  and  flatters  it.  They  recognize  in  him 
a  master  spirit.  He  excites  admiration  like  those  con- 
quistadores  who  conquered  and  plundered  empires. 
Even  cultivated  men  of  high  integrity  cannot  always 


2S6 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Occult  and 
irresponsi- 
ble power. 


Profits  of 
the  boss, 
material 
and  moral. 


resist  this  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  favourites 
of  fortune,  honest  folk  or  rascals,  which  pervades 
the  air  of  the  New  World.  One  would  almost  think 
that  they  are  proud  of  the  bosses.  The  hostile  cries 
and  the  objurgations  which  accompany  the  name  of 
the  boss  die  away  as  they  descend  further  and  further 
into  the  lower  strata  of  the  community,  and  the  name 
alone  reaches  these  strata  encircled  with  a  halo  of  no- 
toriety. 

•-Yet}  as  a  general  rule,  the  boss  does  not  much  care  to 
put  his  popularity  to  the  test  of  a  popular  vote ;  he  does 
not  often  stand  for  elective  office  himself.  Sometimes 
it  is  the  flagrant  inadequacy  of  his  education  which  pre- 
vents him  from  filling  a  leading  position;  but  more 
often  he  would  run  the  risk  of  defeat  owing  to  his 
reputation  of  wire-puller  and  election  jobber,  whereas, 
it  he  keeps  behind  the  scenes,  he  can  quietly  pull  the 
strings  and  secure  the  return  of  the  men  who  suit  him. 
The  State  boss  likes  to  run  for  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  very  reason  that  he  can  obtain  this  po- 
sition more  easily  by  intrigue  and  corruption,  the  Sena- 
tors being  elected,  not  by  universal  suffrage,  but  by  the 
State  Legislatures,  where  the  boss  is  often  supreme.  In 
any  event,  it  is  not  in  the  public  position  which  the  boss 
sometimes  fills  that  his  power  resides.  That  power  is 
by  its  nature  occult  and  irresponsible. 

115.  The  boss  none  the  less  derives  from  it  con- 
siderable personal  profit,  both  of  a  material  and  moral 
kind.  The  first  is  the  most  important ;  he  makes  money, 
often  he  makes  a  large  fortune.  For  the  city  boss  this 
is  the  main,  the  sole  object.  Cases  are  quoted,  it  is 
true,  of  bosses  who  have  died  poor;  but  there  are  many 


THE  POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  257 

bosses  alive  and  well  who  are  very  rich,  who  are  "  worth  " 
at  least  $500,000,  while  having  no  avowable  source  of 
income.  Where  does  the  money  come  from?  In  the 
first  place,  the  boss  has  absolute  control  of  the  party 
funds.  Again,  he  receives  commissions  given  by  the 
great  contractors  for  public  works,  by  the  companies 
which  buy  municipal  franchises  or  other  favours. 
Lastly,  the  boss  makes  money  out  of  the  pulls  which  he 
has  on  the  representatives  of  authority,  by  ensuring,  in 
return  for  a  share  in  the  profits,  a  lucrative  connection  to 
business  men,  to  lawyers.  It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  if 
the  income  of  the  bosses  is  considerable,  their  general 
expenses  are  so  as  well ;  the  boss  has  to  spend  a  great 
deal  to  maintain  his  political  position,  to  keep  up  the 
Machine.  Sometimes  the  boss  devotes  his  whole  in- 
come to  this,  he  does  not  grow  rich  by  "politics." 

The  "disinterested"  boss  takes  to  "politics"  from 
inclination;  "politics"  is  his  passion,  that  is  to  say,  not 
the  problems  of  politics  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word, 
but  the  intrigues,  the  combinations,  and  the  gossip  of 
personal  politics.  It  is  this  kind  of  politics  that  he  in- 
dulges in.  The  love  of  power,  the  satisfaction-  felt  by  the 
autocrat  who  exalts  and  humbles  men  at  his  good  pleas- 
ure, is  a  still  more  common  motive  with  the  boss.  He 
enjoys  this  power  behind  the  scenes  and  on  the  stage. 
The  tribe  of  politicians  worship  him  as  a  king.  He 
holds  his  court  even  in  his  country  residences;  crowds 
of  office-seekers  hang  upon  his  nod  there. 

The  principal  lieutenants  of  the  boss  are  on  intimate  Relations 
terms  with  him,  but  in  their  relations  there  is  always  the  ^[  ^^^  }^^^ 
more  or  less  perceptible  tone  which  characterizes  those  lieutenants, 
between  sovereign  and  vassal.  \  Yet,  among  these  vas- 


258  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

sals  there  are  powerful  ones,  with  whom  the  master 
has  to  reckon,  as  the  King  of  France  had  to  reckon  with 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  Duke  of  Normandy,  the 
Count  of  Flanders.  From  this  obligation  not  even, a 
boss  as  absolute  as  the  Tammany  chief  escapes ;  among 
his  district  leaders  are  men  who  do  not  depend  on  the 
boss  either  for  their  livelihood  or  for  their  position, 
who  engage  in  "politics"  from  taste  and  ambition,  and 
who  wield  an  indisputable  personal  ascendency  in  their 
districts,  —  they  have  a  crowd  of  vassals  and  lieges  of 
their  own.  A  State  boss,  were  he  as  powerful  as  the 
Republican  boss  of  Pennsylvania,  is  exposed  to  the 
schemes  of  some  of  his  lieutenants,  haunted  by  the  wish 
to  ''set  up  for  themselves."  Sometimes  there  are  open 
fights ;  the  big  boss  has  a  bout  with  his  unruly  vassals, 
like  Louis  XI.  with  Charles  the  Bold,  but  in  the  end  he 
comes  to  terms  with  them.  When  he  can,  he  quells 
revolts  by  the  exercise  of  authority  or  by  sheer  corrup- 
tion; he  deposes  the  district  leader  who  is  guilty  or 
suspected  of  disloyalty;  or  he  ruins  him  in  his  fief,  he 
drenches  the  primaries  with  money  to  prevent  the  rebel 
from  "getting  the  delegates,"  without  whom  the  latter 
is  powerless.  \To  meet  extraordinary  expenditure,  the 
boss  blackmails  the  corporations,  the  financial  com- 
panies, exactly  like  j-  and  this  again  is  a  point  of  re- 
semblance with  feudal  manners  —  the  mediaeval  king, 
who  extorted  money  from  the  burgesses,  the  traders  of 
his  good  cities,  to  get  the  wherewithal  for  making  war 
on  a  rebellious  vassal. 

cSuch  is  the  boss  in  his  public  capacity.  In  his  private 
circle  he  is  often  perfectly  honourable;  his  family  life 
is  irreproachable,  he  can  be  depended  on,  he  is  exact  in 


THE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  259 

the  observances  of  religion,  he  has  his  seat  in  church. 
This  holds  good,  also,  of  the  subordinate  politicians. 
The  politician,  great  or  small,  simply  puts  in  practice, 
without  being  aware  of  it  perhaps,  the  doctrine  of  two 
moralities,  the  one  for  private,  the  other  for  public  life. 

Within  these  last   years  there  have  come    forward  Type  of 
prominent  politicians  who  employed  the  methods  of  the  ^^^  . 

changing. 

bosses  for  establishing  and  maintaining  their  ascen- 
dency, but  used  their  power,  more  or  less  disinterest- 
edly, for  the  public  good.  Men  of  character  and  of 
ideas,  with  wide  and  even  lofty  conceptions  of  public 
policies,  they  seemed  to  point  to  a  new  type  of  boss 
which  might  drive  back  the  classic  type.  However, 
the  specimens  of  that  new  type,  of  those  white  crows, 
are  not  yet  numerous  enough  to  vouchsafe  a  new, 
genus.  The  politicians  referred  to  might  be  simply 
exceptional  personalities,  and  it  would  be  premature 
even  to  speak  of  a  "  new  game"  inaugurated  by  them  in 
"practical  politics."  The  change  which  should  be  al- 
ready noticed  is  this :  the  well  stamped  features  of  the 
boss  presented  to  the  reader  are  becoming  in  reality 
less  striking,  as  if  the  pattern  has  become  somewhat 
flattened. 

116.   The  use  which  the  boss  makes  of  his  extensive  Limited 
and  penetrating  power  by  no  means,  however,  affects  "^^  °^  ^^® 
the  whole  of  political  life.     He  does  not  try,  like  the  power, 
tyrants  of  the  Greek  cities  or  of  the  Italian  republics,  to 
assert  his  power  over  the  polis  in  general.      All  his 
designs  on  the  commonwealth  amount,  in  fact,  to  run- 
ning the  elections  as  he  likes,  putting  his  followers  in  all 
the  places,  keeping  out  his  opponents,  protecting  the 
first,  making  the  second  harmless,  and  realizing  the 


26o 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE  PARTY   SYSTEM 


Havoc 

wrought 
in  the 
municipal 
•  administra- 
tion; 


material  profits  attaching  to  these  places  and  to  the  in- 
fluence which  they  procure^  Public  policies  themselves 
are  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  boss.  If  he  "pun- 
ishes his  enemies,"  if  he  brings  about  proscriptions,  it  is' 
solely  in  self-defence;  he  never  meddles  with  citizens 
who  do  not  go  out  of  their  way  to  oppose  him.  If  he  is 
often  a  despot,  he  is  so  rather  from  necessity,  as  a  matter 
of  business,  than  from  inclination.  His  wish  is,  on  the 
contrary,  to  make  as  many  friends  as  possible,  to  please^ 
everybody;  for  whatever  the  source  of  his  power,  the 
material  substance  of  it  is  composed  of  the  votes  of  the 
multitude  given  to  the  candidates  of  the  boss.  A  really 
intelligent  boss  is  never  gratuitously  arrogant  and  des- 
potic; he  wields  his  power  of  tyrant  with  moderation 
and  kindliness.  No  great  merit,  however,  attaches 
to  this.  Even  if  he  tried  to  go  farther  he  would 
fall  foul  of  the  rights  of  the  citizen,  reserved  by  the 
Constitution J.It  is  of  no  avail  for  the  boss  to  be  master 
of  the  executive  and  the  legislature,  for  they  are  not 
omnipotent.  The  American  Constitution  has  made  the 
fundamental  rights  of  the  man  and  of  the  citizen  safe 
from  oppression  by  placing  them  under  the  sovereign 
protection  of  the  courts,  which  can  annul  as  unconsti- 
tional  not  only  administrative  acts,  but  laws  them- 
selves; and  the  judiciary,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  not  yet 
under  the  thumb  of  the  bosses. 

117.  The  point  which  is  most  exposed  to  the  designs 
of  the  Machine  is  the  municipal  administration,  owing 
to  its  ample  resources  offering  abundance  of  loot  and 
being,  so  to  speak,  within  arm's  reach.  The  finances 
of  a  city  ruled  by  the  Machine  are  always  heavily 
burdened  with  useless  and  bloated  expenditure.    The 


THE  POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  261 

departments  are  invariably  encumbered  with  a  very 
considerable  number  of  sinecures,  the  sole  object  of 
which  is  to  enable  the  "workers"  of  the  Machine  to 
draw  their  salaries ;  useful  public  works  are  contracted 
for  at  extravagant  rates;  the  exploitation  of  the  mo- 
nopolies in  the  gift  of  the  city  is  granted  for  nothing, 
or  for  an  absurdly  small  consideration.  After  all,  it 
often  turns  out  that  the  resources  of  the  cities  which 
are  not  afflicted  with  a  Machine  are  not  administered 
much  more  economically.  The  depredations  com- 
mitted by  the  bosses  are  made-  up  for,  to  a  certain 
extent,  by  a  better,  more  responsible  administration  of 
the  municipal  departments,  which  is  due  to  the  mem-: 
bers  of  the  councils  of  these  cities  and  their  employees' 
being  more  disciplined.  The  Machine  which  selects 
all  the  candidates  for  public  office,  while  making  them 
docile  instruments,  takes  care  to  choose  them  as  well 
as  possible;  and  once  they  are  installed  in  their  posts, 
it  sees  that  they  do  not  compromise  it.  Instead  of 
being  responsible  to  the  public,  they  must  answer  to 
the  Machine;  the  responsibility  is  deflected,  but  it  is 
genuine,  and  all  the  more  so  that  the  power  of  the 
Machine  is  more  centralized,  more  personal,  and  more 
immediate.  Besides  this,  the  great  mass  of  small  em- 
ployees are  not  dishonest;  they  accept  their  places 
from  the  Machine  to  earn  a  humble  livelihood.  And 
when  they  have  discharged  the  first  duty  of  their  office, 
which  is  to  serve  the  Machine,  when  this  tribute  on 
their  time,  their  exertions,  and  their  conscience  has 
been  taken,  they  honestly  give  the  rest  to  the  public. 
The  municipal  administration  run  by  the  most  corrupt 
Machine  —  I  mean  Tammany  Hall  —  affords  striking 
proof  of  this  state  of  things. 


262  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

Of  all  the  public  departments  in  the  large  cities  the 
most  contaminated  by  the  Machine  is  that  of  the 
police,  whose  co-operation  is  particularly  valuable  to  it. 
The  poHce  in  these  cities  is  "full  of  politics."  It 
<ihields  from  the  public  the  frauds  committed,  at  the 
primaries  and  at  the  elections,  by  the  followers  of  the 
Machine;  it  molests  the  Machine's  opponents  when 
they  want  to  exercise  their  electoral  rights;  it  winks 
at  the  law-breaking  drinking-saloons,  at  the  gambling- 
hells  and  houses  of  ill  fame,  which  pay  blackmail  to 
the  Machine.  But  in  other  respects  the  police  really 
does  its  duty,  and  does  it,  on  the  whole,  fairly  well. 
The  other  municipal  departments  are  also  infected  with 
*' politics,"  but  in  a  lesser  degree.  The  Machine  treats 
them  as  a  preserve  for  "spoils" — places,  contracts, 
etc.  It  exploits,  with  this  view,  at  one  time  the  fire 
brigade,  at  another  the  hospitals,  sometimes  even  the 
school  boards,  by  putting  on  them,  as  a  reward,  po- 
litical "workers"  for  whom  nothing  better  can  be 
found.  But,  however  satisfactory  the  administration 
of  the  cities  governed  by  a  Machine  may  be  as  a  whole, 
and  however  properly  and  conscientiously  the  employees 
may  discharge  the  routine  of  their  duties,  the  spirit 
which  presides  over  the  administration  is  always  an 
unenlightened  one,  with  no  breadth  or  vitality, 
in  legis-  Nor  is  legislation  wholly  contaminated  by  the  Ma- 

latures.  chine.  The  State  legislatures,  which  vote  laws,  at  the 
bidding  of  the  boss,  to  swell  the  resources  of  patronage 
or  to  bestow  privileges  or  monopolies  on  companies 
allied  with  the  boss,  also  vote  good  laws  —  laws  of 
public  utility.  It  is  even  easier  to  obtain  such  a  law 
with  the  help  of  the  boss.    Instead  of  agitating  and 


THE  POLITICIANS  AND  THE   MACHINE  263 

bringing  on  the  legislature  the  pressure  of  enlightened 
opinion  which  is  often  difficult  to  arouse,  it  is  better 
to  apply  to  the  boss ;  the  latter  will  give  the  order  and 
the  law  will  go  through,  like  a  letter  in  the  post.  In 
these  cases  boss  rule  offers  the  advantages  of  an 
"enlightened  despotism."  The  boss  exerts  the  same 
power  to  stop  obnoxious  attempts  at  legislation  coming 
from  individual  members  of  the  legislature,  who  want 
to  blackmail  wealthy  companies  by  bringing  in  bills 
directed  against  them.  If  these  companies  enjoy  the 
protection,  duly  paid  for,  of  the  boss,  he  holds  up  his 
hand,  and  the  "striker"  vanishes  like  a  schoolboy 
caught  in  the  act.  The  boss  is  equally  successful  in 
blocking  a  good  measure  brought  in  by  an  independent 
member,  that  is  to  say,  a  recalcitrant  one  in  the  eyes  of 
the  boss.  Thus,  in  the  State  as  well  as  in  the  city,  the 
boss  acts  as  a  disciplining  force,  for  good  as  well  as  for 
evil. 

118.  Wielding  a  power  not  only  usurped,  but  also 
irresponsible,  the  boss  is  always  liable  to  step  out  of  the 
moderation   which   his   character   of  usurper   enjoins 
and  which  his  means  of  action,  as  well  as  the  barriers 
of  the  constitution,  impose  on  him.    As  with  every 
autocrat,   absolute  power  makes  him  lose    his  head 
sooner  or   later;    he  becomes   wilful,   arrogant,   and 
tyrannical;    he  exceeds  all  bounds  in  the  effrontery 
with  which  he  and  his  men  use  the  public  resources 
for  their  own  benefit.    At  last  the  public's  cup   of  Periodical 
patience  runs  over,  a  revolt  breaks  out,  and  the  Ma-  revolts 
chine  is  "  smashed."    This  is  the  fate  of  every  Machine,  the  Ma- 
as  it  is  of  every  brigand  to  end  on  the  scaffold.     It  is  chines, 
only  a  question  of  time.     But  just  as  the  death  on  the 


264  DEMOCRACY   AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

gibbet  of  the  bandit  of  Calabria  or  the  Abruzzi  does 
not  prevent  him  from  having  a  successor  in  the  wilds 
which  were  the  scene  of  his  exploits,  so  the  Machine 
which  has  been  ''smashed"  is  soon  put  together  again 
by  the  same  boss  or  by  another,  to  meet  the  same  fate 
in  the  end  as  their  predecessors.  It  is  a  regime  whicl;i 
recalls,  to  some  extent,  that  which  was  defined  by  the 
words  "  a  despotism  tempered  by  assassination."  Here 
the  assassination  is  only  symbolical;  free  institutions 
enable  the  revolution  to  be  carried  out  in  an  absolutely 
pacific  manner,  by  the  simple  action  of  voting  papers^ 
The  American  people  have  only,  according  to  the 
phrase  of  the  stump  orator,  to  "  rise  in  their  might  and 
in  their  majesty,"  and  everything  will  come  right.  In 
reality,  it  is  not  so  much  in  their  "majesty"  that  the 
people  rise  as  in  their  fury.  For  a  long  time  impassive 
and  apathetic,  they  start  up  all  of  a  sudden  in  a  par- 
oxysm of  wrath.  The  sovereign  people  strike  without 
pity  and  without  discernment,  guilty  and  innocent  will 
all  do  to  make  up  the  hecatomb  which  they  must  have'. 
Public  The  power  of  public  opinion,  which  is  supposed  to 

opinion         weieh  heavily,  and  does  so  really,  in  the  United  States, 

let  loose.  ^  ,      /'         ,  ,  .         -^^  ,  1.  .  . 

»  on  everybody  and  everythmg,  reaches  the  politicians 

in  the  end,  but  it  reaches  them  in  a  more  or  less  ac- 
cidental way,  which  excludes  all  regular  responsibility. 
The  authority  which  public  opinion  wields  over  the 
Machine  is  rather  the  authority  of  Judge  Lynch. 
y  The  deference  and  submissiveness  with  which  the 
Machine  is  obliged  to  treat  public  opinion  are,  conse- 
quently, limited  to  the  risk  which  it  runs  of  awaking 
the  Lynch  which  slumbers  in  the  breast  of  the  public. 
The  Machine,  it  is  true,  pays  great  attention  to  public 


J 


THE  POLITICIANS  AND  THE   MACHINE  265 

opinion,  it  carefully  watches  the  state  of  public  feeling, 
and  in  cases  where  it  is  possible  to  satisfy  public  opinion 
without  any  great  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  Machine, 
the  latter  does  so  with  alacrity.  But  this  is  not  often 
within  its  power,  for  if  it  always  consulted  the  interests 
of  the  public  it  would  ruin  its  own  prospects.  The 
bosses  yield  only  when  they  cannot  help  it.  But  often 
the  Machine  tries  its  hand,  in  spite  of  this,  and  it  is 
only  after  having  been  beaten  that  it  mends  its  ways. 
Then  it  brings  forward  excellent  candidates  at  the^ 
elections,  adopts  a  humble,  crihging  attitude,  practises 
virtue,  until  such  time  as  public  opinion  goes  to  sleep, 
again. 

119.  The  respectable  members  of  the  party,  wealthy  other 
persons  who,  out  of  party  loyalty,  give  the  Machine  checks 
large  subscriptions  to  the  election  campaign  funds,  do  Machine, 
act  as  a  brake  on  the  bosses  when  important  candida- 
tures are  involved.  Far  more  effective  is  the  check 
imposed  on  the  Machine  bv  the  Machine  of  the  oppo- 
site party :  whenever  the  two  parties  are  evenly  matched, 
a  small  number  of  good  citizens  can  turn  the  scale; 
the  two  rival  Machines  are  in  that  case  obliged  to  vie 
with  each  other  in  cultivating  the  good  graces  of  these 
independent  electors,  by  making  up  their  tickets  with 
names  of  men  as  respectable  as  the  business  of  the 
Machine  will  allow.  This  intervention  of  the  inde- 
pendent electors  supplies  a  corrective  to  the  Machine, 
which  is  daily  growing  more  important  and  more  effi- 
cacious. 

The  most  extensive  limitations  to  which  the  power 
of  the  Machine  and  of  the  politicians  is  subject  are  to 
be  found  in  the  social  and  economic  character  of  the 


266  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

I  particular  community.  In  places  where  the  popula- 
tion is  more  homogeneous,  and  forms  smaller  sets,,  in 
which  opinion  has  consequently  more  consistency  aiid' 
asserts  itself  with  more  force,  the  Machine  cannot  take 
the  liberties  which  it  does  in  large  cities  where  public 
spirit  is  smothered  under  the  huge  agglomerations  of 
heterogeneous  elements  brought  together  promiscuously. 
Its  proceedings  do  not  escape  the  attention  of  the  pub- 
lic so  easily,  and  the  Machine  is  from  necessity  more 
circumspect  and  more  moderate  in  its  desires.  In 
places  where  there  are  no  large  public  works  to  be 
tendered  for,  or  important  contracts  to  be  awarded, 
where  there  are  no  powerful  corporations  with  exten- 
sive interests  depending  on  administration  or  legisla- 
tion, in  a  word,  where  the  material  for  plunder  is  not 
considerable,  the  Machine  is  necessarily  frugal.  Hence 
the  parts  of  the  Union  least  contaminated  by  the  Ma- 
chine and  the  politicians  are  the  country  districts.  The 
South,  which  is  still  largely  agricultural  and  where  big 
cities  are  very  few,  does  not  present  a  very  favourable 
field  for  the  development  of  the  Machine.  Apart  from 
the  two  largest  cities.  New  Orleans  and  Louisville,  the 
odious  type  of  the  boss  is  hardly  met  with  in  the  South. 
In  the  West  the  Machine  prospers  more,  while  exhibit- 
ing infinite  variations  in  the  extent  of  its  power  and  its 
misdeeds.  The  great  hotbed  of  the  Machine  and  of 
the  bosses  is  still  the  Eastern  States,  which  are  rich  and 
populous,  and  where  social  differentiation  has  made  the 
most  progress. 
A  map  of  If  on  the  map  of  the  United  States  all  the  parts  of 

the  Ma-        ^j^g  country  where  the  Machine  has  developed  were 
coloured  red,  the  eye  would  at  once  be  attracted  to  the 


^HE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  2^7 

right  by  a  large  blotch  formed  by  the  States  of  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  with  a  strip  of  the  State  of 
New  Jersey  on  the  east,  with  the  State  of  Maryland 
on  the  south,  and  the  State  of  Ohio  on  the  west,  partly 
at  least.  This  mass  casts  a  faint  shadow  to  the  north- 
east over  New  England,  while  on  the  other  side,  to  the 
west,  the  red  will  appear  in  more  or  less  deep  tints  in 
the  State  of  Illinois  and  will  stain  the  neighbouring 
States,  marking  with  scarlet  points  most  of  the  large 
cities,  such  as  St.  Louis  in  Missouri  and  others  of  less 
importance,  like  Louisville  in  Kentucky  or  Minneapolis 
in  Minnesota,  and  other  smaller  places  among  the 
large  cities;  then,  after  making  a  brief  pause  in  the 
States  of  the  Far  West  and  leaving  some  patches  there, 
it  will  flow  toward  the  Pacific  slope  and  deposit  a  thick 
layer  of  carmine  on  San  Francisco ;  and,  finally,  jump- 
ing right  over  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  it  will  cover  New 
Orleans  with  a  similar  layer.  A  very  considerable 
space  will  be  left  hardly  coloured  at  all  or  will  even 
exhibit  the  shot  colour  to  be  seen  in  certain  fabrics: 
these  are  regions  or  cities  where  the  Machine  has  no 
stable  and  regular  existence;  rings  of  mercenary  poli- 
ticians form  in  them,  disappear  after  a  short  time,  and 
re-form  under  favourable  circumstances.  A  good  many 
points  again  on  the  map  will  appear  almost  white.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  part  of  the 
map  coloured  red,  while  only  a  fraction  of  the  whole 
country,  contains  almost  a  third  of  the  population  of 
the  United  States  and  represents  at  least  three-fifths  of 
its  economic  interests. 

Again,  owing  to  the  civic  upheaval  which  has  taken 
place  all  over  the  country  within  these  last  years,  and 


268 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


The 

Machine 

weakens. 


The  power 
of  the 
Machine 
analyzed. 


Excessive 

elective 

system. 


/      Patronage. 


which  will  be  enlarged  upon  in  a  subsequent  chapter, 
the  power  of  the  Machine  has  weakened,  and  while 
bosses  are  still  there,  almost  everywhere  they  carry  bn 
their  trade  with  less  disregard  of  decency,  with  more 
respect  or  rather  more  fear  of  public  opinion.  Slowly 
but  certainly  the  Machine  is  undergoing  a  change.  It 
puts  better  men  in  offices,  it  is  more  refined  in  its 
methods  of  exploiting  the  public,  there  is  much  less 
open  stealing.  Public  opinion  would  no  longer  tolerate 
it  as  in  the  time  of  Tweed. 

1 20.  But  why  is  the  power  of  the  Machine,  even 
limited  and  mitigated;  why  should  it  exist  at  all;  why 
is  it  tolerated  in  the  full  blaze  of  democracy?  The 
varied  materials  for  an  answer  to  this  question  have 
already  been  disclosed  to  us,  and  it  now  remains 
to  recapitulate  them  in  a  more  methodical  way.  The 
first  and  general  condition  of  the  Machine's  existence 
and  success  is,  of  course,  the  extraordinary  development 
of  the  elective  regime  and  of  the  party  system,  which 
have  created  the  necessity  for  a  highly  elaborate  and 
intricate  election  machinery,  worked  by  experts.  But 
why  should  these  experts  be  men  of  the  stamp  of 
*' bosses,"  and  how  does  it  come  about  that  they  are 
able  to  keep  a  hold  on  the  public  concern  and  exploit 
it  so  easily?  The  most  common  explanation  given  is 
that  the  Machine  disposes  of  a  large  patronage,  or, 
again,  that  it  lives  on  rich  corporations,  and  that  if  it 
had  not  one  or  the  other  of  these  resources,  or  both  of 
them,  it  would  die  of  inanition.  This  explanation  is 
only  partly  true,  it  only  deals  with  the  material  re- 
sources. Foremost  among  these,  in  fact,  comes  th^ 
patronage,   the  places  in  the  public  service  of  the 


TEIE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  269 

Union,  of  the  States,  and  of  the  municipalities;  these 
places,  supplemented  by  the  hope  of  getting  them,  fur- 
nish the  pay  for  maintaining  the  army  of  politicians 
who  serve  the  Machine. 

Next    come    the    principal   direct    receipts'  of  the  Assess-     ^ 
Machine  —  the  assessments,  the  contributions  paid  by  ^^^^^' 
the  candidates,  and  the  percentage  paid  by  the  office- 
holders.    The  contributions  of  private  individuals,  of 
wealthy  zealots  of  the  party,  are  large  enough.     They  Contribu- 

sink,  however,  into  insignificance  beside  those  of  the  *^°"^  ^^ 
.  .  corpora- 

financial  or  industrial  corporations.     These  latter  are  tions. 

the  great  pillars  of  the  Machine  and  in  fact  its  partners. 
Where  there  is  a  Machine  there  are  corporations  at  its 
back,  where  there  is  a  corporation  there  is  a  Machine 
to  serve  it.  Alongside  of  the  corporations  are  the 
smaller  pillars :  the  contractors,  jobbers,  and  lastly  the 
dive-keepers  —  all  of  them  bent  on  breaking  or  cheat- 
ing the  law  with  the  paid  assistance  of  the  Machine. 

121.  Still  greater  than  its  enormous  material  re- 
sources is  the  moral  stock  which  the  Machine  dispose.s 
and  which  consists  of  the  deliberate  or  unconscious 
adhesion  of  the  various  elements  of  the  community. 
The  Machine  exists  and  works  with  their  consent, 
and  by  no  means  in  spite  of  them.  The  first  of  these 
social  elements  on  which  the  Machine  leans  is  made  The 
up  of  its  own  servants  and  of  its  nearest  adherents,  olE  "Machine 

^  .  element." 

the  social  category  which  is  consequently  known  by 
the  name  of  the  "Machine  element."  These  people 
work  for  the  Machine  as  they  would  have  worked  fpr 
a  manufacturer,  a  merchant,  for  any  one  who  might 
have  employed  them.  They  get  their  living  in  "prac- 
tical politics,"  quite  honestly,   since  they    are  toiling 


270  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

day  and  night.  The  work  is  rather  dirty ;  this  may  be, 
but  there  are  so  many  trades  which  involve  handling 
impleasant  things;  every  trade  has  its  processes,  and 
"practical  politics"  has  its  own.  The  character  of  the 
pay,  which  consists  of  "spoils,"  is  not  objectionable 
either,  it  is  almost  part  of  the  natural  order  of  things. 
When  the  Creator,  after  making  the  two  great  lights 
of  the  day  and  of  the  night,  made  the  two  great  political 
organizations,  he  ordained  that  they  should  divide  the 
public  offices  between  them.  It  is  therefore  only  fair 
that  these  offices  should  be  given  to  the  men  who  have 
"worked"  for  the  party,  and  to  them  alone. 

By  following  this  train  of  reasoning  the  men  of  the 
Machine  come  to  consider  the  independent  members 
of  the  party  who  oppose  the  Machines  as  odious  and 
contemptible;  these  citizens  not  only  prevent  them 
from  earning  their  living,  but  even  try,  while  posing  as 
champions  of  honesty,  to  get  hold  of  the  offices,  with- 
out having  "done  the  work"  for  the  party;  they  are 
therefore  hypocrites,  full  of  "humbug  and  cant."  At 
the  best,  they  are  only  "doctrinaires,"  "college  profes- 
sors," "star-gazers,"  for  the  government  without  parties 
which  they  dream  of  is  an  idea  as  absurd  as  it  is  flagi- 
tious. This  feeling  of  their  uprightness  justifies  the 
conduct  and  stimulates  the  enthusiasm  of  the  mercenary 
politicians. 

The  masses.  In  addition  to  this  category,  the  Machine  has  on  its 
side,  in  the  first  place,  the  mass  of  the  people.     The 

The  dregs,  criminal  and  semi-criminal  elements,  the  declasses  of 
every  kind,  who  swarm  in  the  large  cities,  are  devoted 
to  the  Machine,  because  it  buys  them  with  cash  or  pro- 
tects them  against  the  law. 


THE  POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  271 

122.  The  popular  stratum  which  is  superior  in  point  The  honest 
of  morality,  but  wretched,  having  only  precarious  means  ^|J^^^,^.f^ 
of  existence,  and  which  swells  the  army  of  the  unem-  thropy  of 
ployed,  also  gets  assistance  from  the  representatives  *^^  ^^" 
of  the  Machine;  the  boss  regime,  with  its  costly  ad- 
ministration of  the  cities,  benefits  only  a  number  of 
humble  folk.  The  interested  philanthropy  and  the 
other  attentions  lavished  by  the  politicians  win  them 
the  hearts  of  the  people.  It  is  no  use  denouncing  the 
bosses  as  public  malefactors,  laying  bare  the  corruption 
of  Machine  rule.  The  people  answer,  "It  is  good 
enough  for  us."  In  fact,  they  do  not  see  the  harm 
done  by  the  politicians,  but  they  know  their  urbanity 
and  their  generosity.  Boss  Tweed,  when  publicly  con- 
victed of  monstrous  depredations  and  sent  to  prison, 
lost  none  of  the  esteem  and  admiration  in  which  he 
had  been  held  by  the  lower  orders  of  New  York;  they 
were  convinced  that  Tweed  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the 
nefarious  designs  of  the  rich,  he  who  was  so  kind  to  the 
poor.  The  Machine  does  not  relieve  their  material 
wretchedness  only,  it  also  relieves  their  moral  wretched- 
ness. The  leaders  of  the  Machine  have  a  kindly  word 
for  the  humblest  inhabitants  of  their  district;  they 
share  in  their  joys  and  in  their  sorrows;  they  find  a 
sympathetic  smile  even  for  the  halt  and  the  maimed; 
they  shed  a  ray  of  human  brotherhood  on  the  most 
miserable  of  creatures.  They  do  it  automatically,  in 
the  way  of  business,  to  everybody  without  distinction; 
but  they  none  the  less  appear  as  ministers  of  the  cult 
of  fraternity  in  a  higher  degree  than  the  priests  of  the 
churches  and  the  professional  philanthropists:  they 
are  nearer  to  the  people,  they  come  in  friendly  contact 


272 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Favoured 
by  the 
separation 
of  classes 


and  the 
primitive 
morality 
of  the 
masses. 


with  them  every  day,  and  the  people  have  confidence  in 
them.  They  offer  it  a  counterfeit  of  charity  and  fra- 
ternity, but  if  the  people  accept  it  so  readily,  the  reason 
is  that  the  real  article  is  very  rare,  or  inadequate,  or 
badly  distributed  in  society  as  it  at  present  exists.  The 
men  of  higher  rank  who  come  down  as  it  were  from 
the  moon  to  exhort  the  people  to  vote  for  honest  candi- 
dates opposed  to  the  Machine,  are  strangers  to  them, 
and  the  people  have  no  confidence  in  them  because 
they  belong  to  another  social  sphere. 

Not  that  the  lower-class  elector  prefers  the  corrupt 
man:  he  desires  what  is  right  at  least  as  ardently  as 
the  "  kid-gloved  "  gentleman,  who  comes  down  to  preach 
to  him  political  purity;  his  instincts  impel  him  no  less 
strongly  toward  what  is  honest  and  what  is  just,  but  he 
appraises  honesty  and  justice  in  his  own  fashion.  In 
his  eyes  the  man  who  does  his  neighbour  no  harm,  and 
who  even  does  him  good,  cannot  do  harm  to  society 
and  to  the  community.  The  lower-class  elector  still 
judges  everything  by  the  standard  of  private  morality; 
he  is  as  yet  incapable  of  rising  to  the  height  of  social 
morality.  The  intelligence  of  the  masses  does  not  pre- 
serve them  any  better  from  the  attraction  exercised  by 
the  Machine,  ^he  effort  required  to  disengage  the 
political  questions  at  stake,  to  consider  them  in  them- 
selves, and  to  understand  them,  is  too  great.  The 
popular  mind  is  perfectly  accessible  to  reasoning ;  sound 
arguments  find  an  echo  in  it,  but  the  question  must  be 
well  defined  and  distinctly  presented.  Once  the  prob- 
lem is  grasped,  the  lower-class  elector  is  just  as  capable 
of  exhibiting  public  spirit  as  any  one  else.  But  the 
difficulty  is  to  get  at  him  and  to  make  him  open  his 


THE   POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  273 

mind  confidently  to  arguments  coming  from  outside; 
here,  again,  the  social  differentiation  which  is  at  work 
in  the  United  States,  in  their  turn,  as  in  the  countries 
of  the  Old  World,  erects  a  barrier  between  the  people 
and  the  cultivated  set,  and  accentuates  the  class  an- 
tagonism which  prevents  common  action. 

123.  Among  the  humble  electors  there  is  a  large  Foreign  ^ 
element  which,  in  the  opinion  of  many  people,  em-  ^1^°^^"^- 
bodies  in  a  special  degree  this  venality,  this  narrow 
morality,  and  this  ignorance,  and,  for  that  reason,  sup- 
plies the  Machine  with  most  of  its  supporters.  The 
electoral  category. thus  indicted  is  formed  by  the  "for- 
eign element,"  that  is  to  say,  by  the  immigrants. 
Coming  from  countries  with  less  advanced  political 
institutions,  where  they  had  lived  in  degradation  and 
in  misery,  and  incapable  of  promptly  assimilating  the 
spirit  and  the  manners  of  the  American  democracy, 
these  foreigners,  naturalized  as  American  citizens, 
whose  number  is  counted  by  millions,  cannot  but  be- 
come an  instrument  of  political  demoralization.  Almost 
all  the  men  of  sound  judgment  whom  I  have  been  able 
to  consult,  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  the  West,  of  Ameri- 
can stock  themselves  and  some  of  them  of  very  old 
stock,  protested  against  this  theory,  and  sometimes  with 
anger,  adding  that  the  second  generation  of  the  foreign 
born  citizens  is  the  hope  of  the  country.  No  doubt, 
the  newly  naturalized  citizens  are,  for  the  most  part, 
ignorant,  but  the  proportion  of  ignorant  electors  of 
American  origin  is  not  less  great.  The  wretched  im- 
migrants are  easily  bought,  but  the  poor  natives  of  the 
country  are  exposed  to  the  same  temptation,  and  not 
only  the  poor  ones.    I  have  already  had  occasion  to 


274  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

point  out  that  bribery  is  rife-even  in  the  rural  districts 
of  New  England  among  the  well-to-do  farmers,  de- 
scendants of  the  Puritans..  Several  foreign  elements 
supply,  taken  altogether,  excellent  civic  material,  such 
as  the  Scandinavians  and  the  Germans.  Even  the  Jews 
who  have  escaped  from  the  ghettos  of  eastern  Europe 
promise  to  develop  civic  qualities  on  American  soil. 

The  upshot  of  the  matter  is  that  the  immigrants 
make  the  task  of  democratic  government  rather  more 
complicated;  but  the  difficulty  is  only  relative  and 
temporary.  The  rising  generation  is  assimilated  with 
remarkable  rapidity.  The  movement  started  in  the 
last  few  years  against  immigration  in  a  country  which 
had  always  welcomed  with  open  arms  the  oppressed 
and  the  unsuccessful  of  the  whole  world,  is  not  so  much 
founded  on  facts  as  due  to  the  calculations  of  the  poli- 
ticians who,  in  order  to  get  a  little  popularity,  trade  on 
the  spirit  of  vulgar  nationalism  and  on  the  professional 
envy  and  jealousy  which  foreign  competition  excites  in 
certain  sections  of  the  working  community.  An  emi- 
nent American  has  summed  up  the  whole  question  in 
the  following  words :  "  Our  danger  is  not  from  the  con- 
,  tamination  of  foreigners,  but  from  the  surrender  of 
ideals  upon  which  self-governments  rest  or  die.." 
The  better  1 24.  The  natural  guardian^^^^^  th^s?  id^n]^-  —  the 
element.  social  class  which  is  superior  to  the  masses  by  its 
knowledge  and  its  wealth  —  has  failedjo^dohsduty. 
This  class,  which  is  called  in  TEeUnited  States  "the 
better  element"  because  it  is  better  off,  leaves  the  pub- 
lic interest  to  its  fate.  The  abdication  of  the  better 
element  is  due  to  manifold  considerations  which,  how- 
ever, may  all  be  referred  to  the  eminently  materialistic 


THE  POLITICIANS  AND   THE   MACHINE  275 

spirit  that  animates  the  prosperous  and  wealthy  classes,  its  abdi- 
Meeting  in  one  and  the  same  exclusive  preoccupation,  ^^^^°^* 
that  of  "n^aking  money/'  these  classes  measure  all 
things  by  the  sole  criterion,  '^ Does  it  pay?"  Now  they 
find  that  politics  "do  not  pay,"  that  it  is  not  worth 
while  neglecting  one's  own  business  to  attend  to  public 
affairs;  that  it  pays  better  to  submit  to  the  depreda- 
tions of  a  Machine  than  to  lose  one's  time  in  fighting 
the  bosses,  at  least  as  long  as  they  keep  within  the 
limits  of  comparative  moderation.  Many  members  of 
the  better  element  think  themselves  "too  good"  for 
politics;  it  is  beneath  them,  it  is  too  "vulgar."  They 
think  they  have  performed  their  civic  duty  when  they 
have  voted  the  party  ticket  on  the  day  of  the  election; 
and  some  even  do  not  go  so  far  as  this.  The  most 
"patriotic"  among  the  members  of  the  better  element 
subscribe  to  the  funds  of  the  party,  but  refuse  to  make 
any  personal  exertion,  to  devote  their  time  and  their 
energies.  Besides,  the  party  fetichism  which  sways  Blind  ac- 
men's  minds,  makes  many  very  ^ '  respectable ' '  electors,  quiescence, 
shut  their  eyes  to  the  misdeeds  of  the  Machine;  they 
really  believe  that  it  is  the  other  party  which  is  a  hot- 
bed of  corruption,  that  theirs  is  honest  by  virtue  of  its 
name.  Others,  more  clear-sighted,  groan  inwardly, 
but  take  care  not  to  kick  against  the  Machine  at  elec- 
tions, letting  themselves  be  persuaded  that  the  "life  of 
the  party  is  in  danger,"  and  that  this  is  not  the  time 
to  pick  holes  in  the  doings  of  certain  representatives  of 
the  Organization. 

The  timorous  conservatism  which  characterizes  most 
of  the  members  of  the  better  element  makes  them  ap- 
prehend unspeakable  catastrophes  if  they  should  leave 


276 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


the  beaten  track  of  the  party.  Electors  of  a  philo- 
sophic turn  of  mind  take  their  stand  on  the  proposition, 
that  the  American  government  is  a  party  government, 
that  parties  cannot  exist  without  an  organization,  and 
that,  this  being  so,  the  organization  must  be  paid  for. 
They  refuse  to  see  in  the  boss  aught  but  the  organizer 
of  victory  for  their  party,  and  do  not  see  in  him  the 
corrupter  of  the  Republic.  Other  electors,  wiser  in' 
their  generation,  but  deterred  by  respect  for  the  world's 
opinion,  are  afraid  of  incurring  the  reproach  which  dis- 
qualifies a  man  more  than  anything  else  in  American 
life,  that  of  being  "unpractical,"  of  appearing  on  a 
level  with  a  "college  professor,"  capable  of  imagining 
that  action  can  be  taken  in  politics  irrespective  of  one's 
party.  Certain  electors  carry  their  independence  so 
far  as  to  speak  with  cynical  unconcern  of  the  parties, 
but,  when  the  election  comes,  habit  reasserts  itself,  and 
they  cannot  even  make  up  their  minds  to  "scratch"  the 
Ignorance,  party  ticket.  Lastly,  certain  electors  —  and  their  name 
is  legion  —  are  in  blissful  ignorance  of  everything  that 
goes  on  within  their  party,  of  all  the  political  scandals 
and  the  misdeeds  of  the  politicians.  They  do  not  read 
the  newspapers ;  they  pay  no  attention  to  the  denuncia- 
tions, even  the  most  well-meant  ones,  launched  by  the 
Press  against  the  Machines  and  the  bosses,  for  the  Press 
has,  through  its  own  fault,  lost  credit  with  the  public. 
Each  of  these  electors  of  the  better  element  reasoning 
in  his  own  way,  or  not  reasoning  at  all,  ends  by  voting 
for  the  "yellow  dog"  run  by  the  Machine. 

125.  An  important  section  of  that  class  does  the  same 
simply  from  self-interest.  It  is  no  longer  the  uncon- 
scious or  half-conscious  complicity  of  humble  electors 


Personal 
interest. 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  277 

anxious  about  their  daily  bread;  it  is  the  cool  calcula- 
tion of  men  who  want  things  which  the  Machine  is 
able  to  give.  With  the  help  of  the  Machine  they  can 
succeed  better  in  business,  as  well  as  in  the  professions, 
and  obtain  honours,  —  honours  which  in  the  levelled 
society  of  the  United  States  offer  an  irresistible  attrac- 
tion to  a  number  of  men.  One  has  no  idea  how  many 
there  are  who  would  like  *'to  be  something,"  to  hold 
a  public  office,  even  for  a  short  time,  sometimes  for 
its  own  sake,  sometimes  to  be  made  a  stepping-stone. 
Members  of  the  bar  cultivate  the  friendship  of  the 
bosses,  do  not  scruple  to  join  Tammany  Hall,  with  a 
view  to  some  position  or  other,  —  corporation  counsel, 
prosecuting  attorney,  judge,  —  a  position  which  will 
make  the  holder  of  it  known  to  the  public  and  extend 
his  connection  in  case  he  is  obliged  to  return  to  his 
profession.  Men  who  are  perfectly  respectable  and 
intelligent,  but  who  have  cast  a  longing  glance  on  a 
public  position,  look  at  the  Machine  with  friendly  eyes : 
they  are  thinking  of  the  "nomination."  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  corporations  docilely  pay  their  tribute 
as  "price  of  the  peace,"  holding  that  their  first  duty 
is  to  think^of"  Lhe  interests  of  their  share-holders. 

Those  who  are  not  restrained  by  what  they  consider 
their]  duty  or  their  interest  acquiesce  without  a  strug- 
gle or  a  protest  from  simple  habit  or  from  apathy. 
The  sort  of  prescription  by  which  the  regime  of  the 
Machine  thus  benefits  has  recently  only  been  seriously 
broken  in  the  civic  upheaval  referred  to,  but  for  how 
long  ?  The  imperturbable  optimism,  which  is  one  of  The  evil 
the  essential  traits  of  the  American  character,  when  explained 

away. 

confronted  with  the  disorders  caused  by  the  Machine 


278  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

in  political  life,  simply  says,  "It  will  right  it- 
self," or,  again,  "With  Americans  the  thing  rights 
itself."  It  is  not  even  shaken  by  the  spectacle  of 
the  material  ravages  inflicted  by  the  plundering  poli- 
ticians, but  replies,  "We  can  stand  it;  you  cannot  ruin 
this  country."  As  for  the  misdeeds  of  the  Machine, 
judged  from  the  moral  standpoint,  there  is  no  need 
either  to  make  a  fuss ;  they  are  part  and  parcel  of  the 
infirmities  of  human  nature;  men  are  not  angels;  "it 
is  human  nature."  ^  Or,  better  still,  a  good  many 
citizens,  who  are  only  too  well  informed,  deliberately 
shut  their  eyes  and  stop  their  ears,  —  they  deny  the 
facts.  One  would  think  that,  weary  of  the  ever-present 
spectacle  of  bosses,  they  had  made  up  their  minds,  on 
waking  one  fine  morning,  to  cease  believing  in  the 
reality  of  it,  and  to  say  to  themselves  that  it  is  merely 
a  delusion  which  has  taken  in  sour-minded  individuals 
or  credulous  foreigners.  Lastly,  when  these  citizens 
who  assume  that  they  know  better  are  closely  pressed 
and  obliged  to  admit  that  the  bosses  are  not  altogether 
mythical  beings,  they  declare  that  bossism  is  the  in- 
evitable outcome  of  all  government,  that  without  the 
boss  there  would  be  chaos. 
The  Ma-  Here  we  have  the  clinching  argument,  which  expresses 

chine  sup-     j-^g  j-eal  view  of  the  members  of  the  better  element ;  the 
government,  ^oss  governs  in  their  place,  he  relieves  them  of  the 
tedious  duty  of  governing  themselves,  enables  them 

^  With  reference  to  the  "human  nature"  argument,  so  frequently 
and  so  complacently  used  by  the  representatives  of  the  better  element, 
it  is,  perhaps,  permissible  to  quote  a  joke  from  the  comic  column  of 
an  American  paper.  Tommy.  **Paw,  what  is  human  nature?" 
Mr.  Figg.  "Human  nature,  my  son,  is  the  excuse  generally  offered 
by  a  man  who  has  been  acting  like  a  hog ! " 


THE  POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  279 

to  attend  to  their  own  affairs.     And  here  again Js__the^    C^ 
jrue  explanation  of  the  success  of  the  Machiiie;^Jt4s-a> 
goiiernment. 

It  possesses  most  of  the  attributes  of  a  government  in  a 
high  degree,  except  legitimacy  of  origin  and  honesty; 
of  motive;  its  staff,  the  "leaders"  and  the  "workers," 
are  recruited  by  natural  selection  and  not  by  a  formal  pro- 
cess; they  are  representative  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
electors;  they  are  united  to  it,  and,  above  all,  united 
among  themselves  by  the  closest  ties  of  social  cohesion, 
by  feelings  of  mutual  attachment  and  feudal  loyalty 
toward  the  chiefs;  individual  responsibility  and  per- 
sonal merit  are  the  only  principles  which  govern  their 
relations;  firmness,  energy,  and  audacity  characterize 
all  their  acts.  These  virtues  are  exactly  those  which 
are  wanting  to  society  at  large,  disintegrated,  split  up 
into  sets,  inert,  and  cowardly.  These  vital  principles  of 
government  —  absence  of  formalism,  individual  re- 
sponsibility, and  personal  merit  —  are  exactly  the 
contrary  of  those  which  society  submits  to  from  the 
Machine  itself,  like  an  exoteric  doctrine  which,  in  the 
old  days,  made  the  vulgar  an  easy  prey  of  the  astute 
holders  of  the  esoteric  doctrine. 

126.  It  is  a  government,  but  not  that  of  the  people  A  govem- 
by  the  people,  not  that  which  has  been  provided  by  the  °j^^*  °^^ 
constitution.  If  not  of  the  people,  then  whose  govern- 
ment is  it?  Within  these  last  years,  which  have 
witnessed  a  popular  outburst  against  the  money  power, 
the  query  has  been  frequently  answered  k^  is  the 
government^  of  special  -mtefests,  it  is  a  commercial 
oligarchy  which  owns  the  country.  This  assertion, 
this  outcry  is  far  from  being  unfounded,  though  as  a 


28o  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

comprehensive  definition  of  existing  conditions  it  would 
be  too  sweeping.  While  analyzing  the  ways  and  means 
of  the  Machine,  we  have  noticed  the  financial  inter- 
ests to  which  it  is  allied,  which  it  is  serving.  They  are 
not  the  only  special,  and  at  the  same  time  corrupt  or 
even  criminal,  interests  which  walk  in  the  rear  or  in 
the  front  of  the  Machine,  but  they  are  certainly  the 
most  prominent,  the  most  conspicuous  and  the  most 
demoralizing.  Thej^^Bi^  not  bent  on  governing  the 
country,  —  that  is  not  their  prime  purpose,  —  but  to 
achieve  their^^eed^Cjends  they  lay  hands  systemati- 
cally on  all  the  departments  of  government.  The 
similarity  of  the  aims  of  the  several  moneyed  interests 
and  the  natural  identity  of  their  methods  bring  about 
a  co-operation  among  them  which  spreads  like  a  cob- 
web over  the  whole  area  of  government,  so  that  gov- 
ernment comes  under  their  thumb  as  a  matter  of 
course.  They  offer  the  greatest  market  for  all  the  cor- 
rupt forces  in  the  community,  and  the  latter  are  spon- 
taneously drawn  to  them  while  the  honest  elements  are 
delivered  to  them  by  the  party. 
Part  So  far  as  this  situation  obtains,  the  perspective  of  the 

assigned  extra-constitutional  government  which  we  have  traced 
Machine  would  undergo  a  slight  change:  at  the  apex  of  that 
government  would  no  longer  figure  the  boss  or  the  po- 
litical ring  but  big  business.  The  bosses  would  appear 
at  a  somewhat  lower  grade  as  agents  and  purveyors 
of  the  special  interests,  and  that  function  they  would 
share  with  other  middlemen  trading  in  public  power, 
such  as  the  lobby,  the  special  combines  of  corrupt  legis- 
lators or  aldermen  with  the  central  committees  of  the 
dominant  party  if  not  of  both  parties  at  their  back. 


THE   POLITICIANS   AND   THE   MACHINE  28 1 

This  sort  of  political  trust  headed  by  big  business 
may  have  obtained,  within  the  last  decade  or  so,  a 
rather  wide  extension,  but  it  has  not  ousted  the  retail 
business  of  political  corruption,  carried  on  by  local 
rings  and  Machines.  Their  methods  may  differ.  The 
political  trust  like  the  industrial  trust  need  not  resort  to 
the  crude  methods  of  spoilsmen;  by  a  sheer  concen- 
tration of  corrupt  forces  it  may  achieve  its  objects  in  a 
gentle  way ;  without  robbing  the  public  exchequer,  it 
creates  vast  resources  of  enrichment  for  the  special  in- 
terests by  spurious  legislation  or  by  evasion  of  existing 
laws  with  the  connivance  of  their  constitutional  guard- 
ians. The  bosses  and  Machines  working  with  the  old 
plant  may  come  nearer  to  the  traditional  Tammany 
methods.  The  actual  government  in  either  case  does 
not  dwell  where  the  constitution  has  placed  it 


THIRTEENTH   CHAPTER 


THE  EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT   IN  THE 
LEGISLATIVE   ASSEMBLIES 


Congres- 
sional 
caucus  in 
the  past. 


127.  Party  organization,  having  produced  the  politi- 
cal conditions  analyzed  above,  reaches  its  climax  in  the 
very  seat  of  legislative  power  with  the  legislative  caucus. 
Wiping  out  the  interval  of  time,  it  overtakes  that  old 
institution  and  sets  the  crowning  seal  on  the  extr^- 
constitutional  government  brought  about  by  the  new 
conditions. 

The  reader  will  remember  that  already  in  the  days  of 
the  Federalists  several  members  of  Congress,  and  es- 
pecially senators  belonging  to  that  party,  were  in  the 
habit  of  holding  meetings  to  settle  their  line  ofUction  on 
the  niost  important  questions  pending  in  Congress,  and 
that  the  decisions  of  those  confabulations,  termed  by  the 
familiar  name  of  caucus,  were  considered  as  in  honour 
binding  the  minority.  These  caucuses  began  to  meet 
as  early  as  the  first  session  of  the  fifth  Congress,  perhaps 
even  in  the  first  session  of  the  third  Congress.  The 
practice  started  by  the  Federalists,  though  violently 
denounced  in  the  opposition  Press,  was  followed  by  the 
Republicans  (Democrats).  A  contemporary  refers  to  it 
as  follows :  "  During  the  session  of  Congress  (the  8th) 
there  was  far  less  free  and  independent  discussion  on  the 
measures  proposed  by  the  friends  of  the  Administration 

282 


THE   EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL   CLIMAX  283 

than  was  previously  practised  in  both  branches  of  the 
national  legislature.  It  appeared  that  on  the  most  im- 
portant subjects  the  course  adopted  by  the  majority 
was  the  effect  of  caucus  arrangement,  or  in  other  words 
was  previously  agreed  upon  at  meetings  of  the  Demo- 
cratic members  held  in  private.  Thus  the  legislation 
has  been  constantly  swayed  by  party  feelings  and  pledges 
rather  than  according  to  sound  reason  or  personal 
conviction." 

The  Congressional  caucus  soon  assiuiied,  as  we  are 
aware,  the  nomination  of^eimdidates  for  the  Presidency 
and  the  Vice- Presidency,  and  performed  that  function  till 
democratic  f  eeling,which  burst  all  over  the  country , forced 
the  caucus  to  give  it  up.  The  popular  tempest  did  not, 
however,  sweep  away  the  institution  of  the  caucus,  and  it 
continued  to  determine  behind  closed  doors  the  public 
action  of  Congress  when  a  party  measure  was  hanging 
in  the  balance.  When  the^lavery  quesiiQn_bgcame  so 
acute  as  to  tear  the  parties  asunder,  the  caucus  could  no 
longer  asse^Jtself;  for  the  dissentients^too,  there  was 
then  a  "  higher  law."  After  the  Civil  War,  with  the  advent 
of  a  strong  and  masterful  party,  th€^  Republican  party, 
the  c^cus  returned  to  power.  In  the  absence  in  Congress 
of  a  regular  leadership7such  as  provided  by  English  par- 
liamentary conditions,  the  caucus,  aiming,  at  harmoniz- 
ing the  several  elemente  of  the  party  and  securing  con- 
certed action,  answered  a  real  political  need.  But  that 
secret  conclave,  working  not  in  the  daylight  of  publicity 
and  responsibility,  was  too  inclined  to  assume  dictatorial 
powers.  No  less  prominent  a  member  of  the  party  than 
Senator  Charles  Sumner  was  made  to  feel  its  rod  of 
iron.     Smarting  under  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the 


284 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Debates 
on  it  in  the 
Senate. 


How  en- 
trenched in 
habits 
and  ideas. 


caucus,  Sumner  raised  in  the  Senate  a  debate  (in  July, 
1867)  on  the  obligations  of  a  party  caucus.  He  pro- 
tested against  **  making  the  caucus  not  merely  a  sa- 
cred but  a  sacrosanct  pact  by  which  every  one  at 
the  meeting  is  solemnly  bound.  .  .  .  We  are  under 
obligations  here  to  discharge  our  duties  as  senators. 
We  cannot  in  advance  tie  our  hands.  ...  You 
violate  the  national  constitution."  In  a  later  debate,  in 
December,  187 1,  Sumner  (who  in  the  meantime  had 
been  deposed  by  the  decree  of  the  caucus  from  the 
chairmanship  of  the  committee  on  foreign  relations) 
treated  the  senatorial  caucus  as  only  a  "  convenience  " 
and  denied  the  binding  force  of  its  decisions. 

About  thirty-five  years  later,  as  recently  as  in  1906,  a 
similar  debate  was  raised  in  the  Senate  against  the 
Democratic  caucus,  by  a  Democratic  senator,  showing 
it  to  be  in  plain  violation  of  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  rights  of  a 
State  to  equal  representation  in  the  Senate,  as  a  sena- 
tor, under  the  caucus  rule,  votes  not  as  a  senator  from 
his  own  State,  but  as  a  senator  from  the  other  States, 
whose  senators  define  for  him  his  duty. 

128.  This  new  fight  against  the  caucus  in  Congress, 
after  so  long  a  lapse  of  time  since  the  great  debate 
raised  by  Charles  Sumner,  shows  that  the  caucus  is  still 
alive.  Indeed,  it  has  become  ^entrenched  in  American 
political  habits  and  ideas.  And  it  is  not  only  as  a 
consultative  instrument  for  bringing  together  men  pur- 
suing common  aims,  for  comparing  notes,  for  eliciting 
the  views  prevailing  among  them  on  pending  questions, 
and  by  that  very  fact  helping  to  harmonize  their  diver- 
gencies —  all  most  legitimate  objects.    The  authority  of 


THE  EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL   CLIMAX  285 

the  caucus  is  not  one  of  opinion,  but  of  power,  derived 
Irom  the  obligations  towards  party.  It  is  above  indi- 
vidual convictions  and  above  the  obligations  of  the  oath 
of  office.  The  moral  communion,  which  the  bond  of 
party  is  supposed  to  form,  is  too  high  to  bow  to  either; 
and  conformity  to  its  standards,  as  expressed  by  regu- 
larity,  is  a  sure  enough  guide,  and  the  only  one.  Vouched 
for  by  this  test,  that  communion  involves  both  duties 
and  privileges.  To  perform  its  command  is  not  only  a 
duty  but  a  privilege  granted  only  to  strict  believers. 
Thus,  recently  a  Republican  congressman,  elected  in 
the  State  of  New  York  against  the  regular  party  candi- 
date, was  denied  admission  to  the  Republican  caucus  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  as  he  could  not 
participate  in  the  Democratic  caucus,  he  wandered  like 
a  poor  ghost,  until  after  one  session  the  Republican  cau- 
cus considered  that  his  penance  had  been  sufficient. 

Although  the  power  of  the  caucus  has  remained  un-  Largely 
abated  as  of  old,  its  opportunities  have  greatly  diminished  superseded 
since  the  period  following  the  Civil  War.     It  proved  a  hierarchy, 
very  inadequate  substitute  for  constitutional  leadership 
in  the  growing  complexity  of  political  and  economic  con- 
ditions, while  the  frittering  away  of  the  business  of 
Congress  among  an  increasing  number  of  committees 
(above  fifty)  made  more  manifest  the  necessity  for  a 
concentrated  authority.  The  centralizing  process,  which 
at  the  same  time  was  going  on  in  the  life  of  the  party 
Organization  outside  Congress  and  culminated  in  bos- 
sism,  reached  the  Federal  Capitol  in  the  most  direct 
way.     The  bosses,  as  we  know,  thronged  Congress,  and 
they  brought  with  them  not  only  their  methods  but 
also  the  authority  they  wielded  over  the  local  party 


/ 


286  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

organizations  which  make  and  unmake  senators  and 
congressmen.  A  small  inner  circle  was  formed  in 
each  House  of  Congress  which  ruled  the  party  as  an 
ordinary  boss  rules  his  machine.  In  the  House  of 
Representatives,  especially,  that  autocracy  has  taken 
formal  shape  in  the  extraordinary  powers  of  the 
Speaker  surrounded  _by— the  inner  circle  of  bosses, 
by  the  "organization''  as  it  is  called.  The  delibera- 
tive-cEaracter  of  tKe"  House  has  been  almost  oblit- 
erated, all  legislative  business  and  influence  have 
I  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  committees,  and  the  com- 
mittees were  appointed  by  the  Speaker.  The  chair- 
men^f  the  most  important  committees  together  with 
\  the  Speaker  have  become  the  dict^J^rs  of  the^jlouse.^ 
Then,  there  was  no  longer  the  necessity,  or  the  same 
necessity  as  before,  for  setting  in  motion  the  caucus  in 
order  to  make  the  members  fall  into  line ;  the  word  of 
command  of  the  "organization"  sufficed.  There  was 
nothing  for  members  but  to  obey, — they  were  placed  be- 
tween the  devil  and  the  deep  sea.  The  kicker  was  fac- 
ing political  annihilation  in  Congress,  and  consequently 
in  his  home  district.  He  would  get  from  the  Speaker  and 
the  House  "organization"  no  appointment  on  a  com- 
mittee which  had  anything  to  do ;  he  would  be  relegated 
to  the  committee  on  acoustics  or  on  a  similar  subject, 
where  he  could  not  make  the  slightest  impression ;  his 
bills  would  be  pigeon-holed  in  the  committees;  he  would 
not  even  be  recognized  by  the  Speaker  on  the  floor. 

^  After  repeated  assaults  on  the  Speaker's  dictatorship,  made  by 
"  insurgent "  members  of  the  majority  party,  the  Speaker  has  been  at 
last,  in  March,  19 10,  deprived  of  his  power  to  make  up  the  committees 
of  the  House. 


THE  EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL   CLIMAX  287 

People  in  his  district  would  soon  realize  the  direful  fact 
that  he  was  not  a  "  regular,"  and  the  local  Machine 
would  grasp  it  still  quicker ;  it  might  even  get  word 
from  Washington  about  it.  He  might  be  absolutely 
right  in  his  opposition  to  the  House  "organization," 
but  at  the  next  election  another  man  would  get  the  seat. 

129.   The  only  privilege  of  the  bulk  of  the  members  The  actual 
of  the  party  is  to  choose  their  King  Log,  and  that  is  done  ^^^^  °^  ^^® 

^       -^  .       .  o        D^    ^  ^  caucus 

in  caucus.     So  the  chief,  if  not  the  exclusive,  function  of  '  / 
the  caucus  is  now  to  deliver  a  carte  blanche  to  the  mas-  ' 
ters  of  the  House.     For  that  purpose  at  the  beginning  in 
of  each  session  a  caucus  is  held  to  nominate  the  Speaker  ^  ^    °^®* 
and  to  confirmJhe,oldxules  of  the  If ouse  of_P  ppresep ta- 
tives.     When  there  is  discontent  muttering  against  the 
ruling  oligarchy  and  on  some  important  occasion  even 
mutiny  is  feared,  a  meeting  of  the  caucus  is  resorted  to, 
not  so  much  to  smooth  the  differences  of  opinion  as  to 
coerce  the  individual  members  into  submission.     Once  a 
member  has  "gone  into  caucus,"  he  must  abide  by  the 
decision  of  the  majority  or  become  a  bolter,  an  "  insur- 
gent," as  the  recent  expression  goes.    That  happens  once 
in  a  while.^    And  the  bolter  has  to  take  his  political  life 
in  his  hands,  as  a  congressman  pathetically  explained 
it  to  the  author.^     As  many  a  member  would  therefore 

*  During  the  recent  struggles  against  the  arbitrary  powers  of  the 
Speaker,  a  formal  insurrection  of  a  score  of  members  took  place,  in 
1909,  in  the  Republican  caucus  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
At  the  same  time  a  certain  number  of  Democratic  congressmen 
bolted  their  caucus  and  joined  the  Republican  regulars  to  uphold  the 
autocracy  of  the  Speaker. 

^  That  has  been  openly  acknowledged  in  so  many  words  by  the 
upholders  of  the  caucus  system  in  the  Senate  in  the  recent  debate,  of 
1906,  on  the  caucus  already  referred  to.  "The  senator  is  free  to  defy 
the  caucus,  so  maintained  the  latter's  spokesman,  and  to  vote  as  his 


288  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

be  unwilling  to  "go  into  caucus,"  the  oligarchy  convenes 
sometimes  instead  of  a  ''caucus"  a  "conference,"  which 
latter  is  supposed  not  to  be  binding.  The  difference  is 
perhaps  rather  theoretical.  In  any  case  the  conference, 
and  the  caucus  too,  are  used  by  the  oligarchy  as  a  means 
of  reconnoitring.  To  be  sure  of  obedience,  it  must  learn 
the  temper  of  the  House,  gauge  the  relative  strength  of 
different  opinions,  exactly  as  the  city  boss  or  the  State 
boss  is  watching  public  opinion  to  know  how  far  he 
may  venture, 
in  the  In  the  Senate  party  divisions  are  somewhat  looser, 

United  ^Yie  position  of  the  individual  senator  is  much  more  ex- 

States 

Senate-  alted  than  that  of  a  congressman,  and  the  mutual  rela- 
tions stamped  by  the  "senatorial  courtesy"  are  anything 
but  hierarchical.  Again  discussion  is  not  stifled  in  the 
Senate  by  the  rules  as  in  the  House.  For  these  reasons 
thfi-Xibedieiice^of  senators-feQjhe4)arty  behests  does  jj^t 
comeoutsojaliently  as  in  the  ^ouse.  But  in  the  Sen- 
ate, too,  there  are  the  same  extra-constitutional  agencies 
as  in  the  House,  which  work  with  the  same  effect.  The 
caucu§es^hich  are  supposed  to  gather  all  the  members 
of  the  party  on  a  footing  of  equality,  a;;emore  frequently 


convened  than  in  the  House,  but  their  decisions  are  as 
binding  on  the  individual  senators  with  regard  to  meas- 
ures  which  are  declared  party  measures.  The  parties, 
have  in  the  Senate,  too,  their  oligarchy  formed  into  what 
is  called  familiarly  the  steering  ^j^niittee  and  formally 

conscience  directs.  He  only  takes  a  responsibility  at  home  between 
his  Democratic  constituents  and  his  Democratic  associates  here." 
To  which  his  opponent  answered:  "The  senator  from  Texas  has 
stated  it  correctly.  .  .  .  Unless  a  senator  surrenders  his  conviction 
...  he  will  be  denounced  as  a  bolter  at  home,  and  men  know  what 
that  means." 


legislatures. 


THE   EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL   CLIMAX  289 

the  committee  on  order  of  business.  This  committee 
is  rVinqpn  hjT  fhe  rannic;^  The  official  committees  of 
the  Senate  are  practically  chosen  as  well  by  the  caucusj: 

The  decisions  of  the  caucus  in  the  Senate  and  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  while  enacted  by  moral 
coercion,  are  not  necessarily  bad  in  themselves.  They 
may  be  often  sound  and  helpful  for  carrying  on  legis- 
lation. But  they  are  as  helpful  for  special  interests 
getting  hold  of  legislation.  Those  latter  have  their 
representatives  in  the  caucus  who  behind  its  closed 
doors  may  easily  work  for^them  and  do  so. 

130.  In  the  State  legislatures  also  the  party  caucus  in  the 
has  long  existed  as  a  regular  institution,  and  its  vicissi-  State 
tudes  have  there  been  exactly  the  same  as  in  Congress. 
The  lower  character  of  the  State  assemblies,  the  corrup- 
tion which  has  so  often  been  rampant  in  many  oflKeni7 
has  only  brought  out  in  a  more  lurid  light  tlie  abuses 
to  which  the  working  of  that  party  engine  is  liable. 
The  caucuses  are  now  much  less  frequent  in  the  State 
legislatures.  One  reason  for  this  is  that  there  is  not 
much  partisanship  in  these  assemblies.  The  traditional 
party  divisions  modelled  on  those  which  obtain  in  Con- 

^  The  organ  of  a  famous  independent  senator  puts  it  in  this  way : 
"Legislation  in  the  United  States  Senate  is  controlled  by  committees. 
The  appointment  of  the  committees  is  controlled  by  a  party  caucus. 
.  ,  .  The  caucus  is  composed  of  a  few  bosses,  a  few  independents, 
and  many  cowards  and  followers.  The  programme  of  the  bosses  is 
arranged  in  advance.  It  goes  through  without  a  hitch.  .  .  .  Less 
than  a  dozen  bosses  dominate  legislation  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
Their  power  is  felt  in  every  home.  It  pushes  business  up  or  down 
and  confers  privilege  at  pleasure.  It  checks  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  holds  up  his  appointments,  mocks  his  wrath,  spurns 
his  recommendations.  It  wipes  four-fifths  of  the  States  ofiE  the  map, 
and  makes  mere  dummies  of  their  representatives  in  the  United 
States  Senate"  {La  FoUette^s  Weekly  Magazine^  January,  1909). 
U 


290  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

gress  are  here  more  of  a  formal  character ;  most  measures 
are  adopted  unanimously,  very  few  matters  are  made 
party  measures.  Secondly,  the  infrequency  of  legisla- 
tive caucuses  is  due,  as  in  Congress,  to  the  centralization 
of  party  management.  In  the  State  assemblies  the 
command  of  the Jboss  or  of  the  ruling  oligarchy  is  not 
Ibss,  trnTeven  more,  efficient,  so  that  it  ren^^rs-fieedfess" 
in  the  very_great  majority  of  cases  the  putting  ir^to 
InCfion  of  the  machinery  of  a  caucus.  The  Speaker  and 
the  House  "organization"  in  the  State  assemblies  are 
\  just  as  powerful  in  deciding  the  fate  of  a  bill,  and  not  less 
high-handed  in  the  use  of  their  power;  the  orders  of  the 
steering  committee  are  as  much  obeyed  in  a  State  Capi- 
tol as  in  Washington.  The  complaint  of  the  well-inten- 
tioned members  of  the  party  is  that  there  is  no  caucus 
called,  as  a  caucus  means,  after  all,  discussion.  Lastly, 
in  Machine-ridden  States  the  organizations  of  the  rival 
parties  very  often  work  in  harmony;  there  is  a  collusion 
between  them  beginning  in  the  primaries  and  ending  in 
the  legislature.  The  boss  or  the  House  "organization" 
need  not  resort  to  a  caucus  to  repress  the  opposition  of 
the  honest  members  of  their  party,  they  will  get  enough 
corrupt  members  on  the  other  side  to  make  up  a  ma- 
jority for  their  crooked  measures. 

The  party  caucus  in  the  State  legislatures  is  usually  con- 
vened for  the  selection  of  office-holders,  —  the  Sp,£aker 
and  other  House  officers,  and  of  the  United -Statej_S£lia- 
tors.  The  decision  of  the  caucus  of  the  dominant  party 
is  equivalent  to^  electiort-bv^  the  Legislature.  All  ef- 
forts and  influences  are  therefore  brought  to  bear  not 
on  the  assembly  but  on  the  caucus.  The  contest  is  fre- 
quently a  very  hot  one,  and  the  methods  used  in  such 


THE  EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL  CLIMAX  291 

cases  are  not  of  the  purest.  The  "lobby,"  the  agents 
of  the  corporations,  are  most  active  in  getting  a  Speaker 
who  will  appoint  committees  favourable  to  their  special 
interests.  Pledges  may  be  required  and  given,  with\  the 
result  that  the  committees  are  packed  in  advance  and 
the  course  of  legislation  is  determined  beforehand.  It 
happens,  but  in  very  rare  instances,  that  a  dissenting 
minority  bolts  the  caucus  and  votes  against  its  nominees 
in  the  legislative  chamber.  The  latter  can  get  no  ma- 
jority, ballot  follows  ballot,  and  there  is  a  deadlock. 
Sometimes  the  bolters  succeed  in  tiring  out  the  majority 
of  their  party,  who  are  forced  to  give  up  their  candidates; 
sometimes  they  unite  with  the  opposition  party  and  get 
in  their  men. 

Once  in  a  while  ^g^ucuses  are  convened  on  measures. 
VeiT^ew  are  the  cases  when  members  do  not  answer 
the  call.  As  a  rule  they  ''go  into  caucus,"  but  some- 
times, so  as  not  to  be  bound  by  a  decision  which  they 
disapprove,  they  leave  before  that  decision  is  taken :  they 
"  walk  out  of  the  caucus."  The  real  discussion,  the  real 
fight  on  the  controversial  measures,  is  in  the  caucus ;  the 
greatest  speeches  are  made  there.  The  proceedings 
in  the  legislative  chamber  are  perfunctory.  The  bolt- 
ing of  the  caucus  occurs  on  measures  just  as  on  nominees 
for  offices  filled  by  the  legislature,  —  in  many  a  State 
Assembly  there  come  out  from  time  to  time  "  insurgents." 
The  bolters  are  sometimes  high-minded  men,  and  some- 
times they  are  as  bad  as  the  Machine  men  against  whom 
they  revolt. 

When  all  is  said,  the  range  of  influence  of  the  caucus  The  caucus    ^ 
is  not  very  wide  now  either  in  Congress  or    in    the  ^?  .?^  °"^^ 
legislatures.     But  even  with  its  limitations  it  remains  regime. 


292  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

the  highest  expression  and  epitome  of  the  regime  of 
the  party  Organization.  Its  most  salient  features  are 
here  gathered  within  a  small  compass.  Party  discipline^ 
is  reduced  ad  absurdum :  a  man  is  in  conscience 


to  vote_against  his  convictions ;  regidEnly^^njomshim^ 
y  jngevipipfi»|TTJ^>jgTFof  rliity;Jip  is  freed  from  respon- 
sibilityioractionjie  cannot  justify.  Majority  1  ule;^Whtch 
is  the  pretence  and  the  vindication  of  the  caucus,  is 
reduced  to  mjunri^  rule ;  not  only  is  the  minority  of  the 
party  crushed  out,  but  the  majority  of  the  legislative  body 
is  deprived  of  its  will  and  its  power.  A  corrupt  minor- 
ity may  dictate  laws.  Freedom  of  speech  is  as  much 
annihilated  as  freedom  of  vote,  and  legislation  by  disdus- 
sion  under  the  eye  of  the  public  is  replaced  by  secret 
conclaves.  Irresponsible  bodies  themselves,  they  free 
and  shelter  from  all  responsibility  the  representatives 
of  the  people;  the  most  scandalous  vote  finds  a  ready 
excuse :  "  it  was  a  caucus  measure,"  they  could  not  help 
it.  Cowardly  and  servile  to  the  behests  of  the  party  chief- 
tains, these  legislators  may  defy  public  opinion,  which 
has  itself  conferred  on  them  the  power  to  do  so  by  ac- 
quiescing in  the  false  assumption  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
caucus  decision.  While  it  shuts  out  publicity  and  re- 
sponsibility, the  caucus  opens  wide  the  gates  for  sinister 
influences  and  for  corruption.  The  greedy  corporations, 
the  special  interests  all  bent  on  getting  privileges  for 
themselves,  on  plundering  the  public  under  cover  of 
the  law  made  for  their  benefit,  have  only  to  stretch 
out  their  hands.  Concentrating  these  efforts  on  a 
limited  number  of  members,  they  get  hold  of  the 
caucus,  and  this  latter  delivers  them  the  legislature, 
which  again  sells  them  out  the  interest  of  the  public. 


THE   EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL  CLIMAX  293 

Thus  the  constitutional  government  has  its  power  trans- 
ferred to  and  prostituted  by  the  extra-constitutional 
body  which  has  been  allowed  to  fester  in  its  bosom. 

It  does  not  matter  much  that  the  role  of  the  caucus 
has  been  largely  taken  up  by  the  House  "organization" 
or  the  boss:  they  are  but  two  reverses  of  the  same 
medal;  one  has  an  individual  face  stamped  on  it,  the 
other  one  bears  a  general  imprint. 


FOURTEENTH   CHAPTER 


THE   STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION 


Struggle 
against 
political 
corruption. 


Double 
aspect, 
economic 
and  politi- 
cal. 


131.  Must  American  democracy  be  wedded  to  polit- 
ical conditions  such  as  those  described ;  is  there  no  way 
out  of  them  ?  A  number  of  good  citizens,  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  have  not  despaired  and  still  do  not  despair 
of  finding  one.  In  fact  this  period,  which  has  been 
marked  in  the  highest  degree  by  political  corruption, 
has  also  witnessed  manifold  attempts,  differing  widely 
in  scope,  to  lift  the  American  democracy  out  of  the  con- 
dition to  which  Machine  rule  and  the  encroachments 
of  business  have  reduced  it.  To  conclude  our  enquiry 
we  will  now  review  these  efforts. 

Begun  soon  after  the  Civil  War,  they  "were  brought 
about  by  the  corruption  of  the  party  in  power,  the 
Republicans,  whose  mercenary  elements  supported  by 
party  discipline  shamelessly  exploited  the  public  interest, 
and  under  whose  auspices  monopolies  were  established 
for  the  benefit  of  large  industrial  and  financial  concerns. 
The  movement  of  revolt,  therefore,  assumed  a  double 
aspect  —  economic  and  political.  The  economic  agita- 
tion broke  out  both  in  the  primitive  regions  of  the 
West,  among  the  farmers  who  thought  themselves  in- 
jured by  the  arbitrary  tariffs  of  the  railroads,  and  in  the 
East,  where  it  was  directed  against  the  excesses  of  Pro- 
tection which  dated  from  the  Civil  War.    The  farmers' 


294 


\ 


THE   STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION  295 

movement  created  a  hotbed  of  social  discontent  in  the 
West,  which  became  a  permanent  menace  to  the  politi- 
cal stability  embodied  in  the  traditional  parties.  The 
anti-Protectionist  movement  took  the  form  mainly  of  a 
propaganda  of  free  trade  ideas,  and  became  in  its  turn 
a  centre  for  free  political  thought,  which  attracted 
prominent  men  and  independent  minds  from  both 
parties,  and  constituted  a  training-school  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  staff  that  was  to  lead,  during  the  next 
quarter  of  the  century,  all  the  campaigns  for  reform 
and  liberty. 

The  first  great  uprising,  however,  occurred  on  the  Revolt 
occasion  of  the   presidential   election  of   1872.     The  ^g^^^s* 
President  in  office.  General  Grant,  —  who,  in  spite  of  re-election, 
himself,  became  the  embodiment  of  the  regime  of  party 
despotism  and  party  corruption,  built  up  on  the  arti- 
ficially perpetuated  antagonism  between  the  North  and, 
the  "rebel"  South, —  was  a  candidate  for  re-election. 
The  prospect  of  seeing  this  regime  obtain  a  new  lease  of 
power  roused  the  indignation  of  several  eminent  mem- 
bers of  the  Republican  party.  ' 

At  the  head  of  the  movement  was  a  naturalized  Ger- 
man, Carl  Schurz.  When  almost  a  stripling  he  took  a 
part,  and  a  romantic  one,  in  the  revolutionary  events  of 
1848  in  Germany.  Having  escaped  from  prison,  he  ar- 
rived, after  a  few  halts,  in  the  United  States.  Bred  on 
the  generous  diet  of  the  sentiments  which  inspired  the 
men  of  1848,  Schurz  married  his  exuberant  young  life 
to  that  of  the  American  democracy.  In  a  compara- 
tively short  time  he  became  a  figure  in  the  political 
world,  a  diplomatist,  a  general  in  the  army  of  the  North 
during  the  Civil  War,  a  senator,  a  remarkable  orator, 


296 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Liberal 
Repub- 
licans. 


Lessons 
of  the 
campaign. 


a  brilliant  writer.  Having  risen  in  the  Republican 
party,  and  with  it,  he^o w  took' Tip  arms  against^it  to 
serve^the  cause  of  the  American  democracy;  and  from 
that  time  onwards  lie  will  always  be  found  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  battle  in  all  the  emancipation  struggles  of  the 
Independents. 

132.  The  dissentient  Republicans,  called  Liberal 
Republicans^  decided  to  put  up  against  Grant  an 
independent  candidate.  To  choose  such,  nothing 
better  was  hit  upon  than  to  summon  a  national 
convention,  in  accordance  with  established  custom. 
The  convention  met  at  Cincinnati  in  1872.  The 
professional  politicians  were  there  in  force,  but  the 
majority  of  the  convention  were  animated  with  pure  sen- 
timents. However,  the  intrigues  and  the  manoeuvres, 
to  which  national  conventions  so  easily  fall  a  vic- 
tim, got  the  better  of  that  assembly.  It  was  not  the 
most  distinguished  candidate  who  was  nominated, 
but  a  surprise  candidate,  Horace  Greeley.  A  remark- 
able journalist,  a  man  of  great  moral  enthusiasm,  but 
with  a  judgment  far  from  unerring,  without  experience 
as  a  statesman,  a  notably  eccentric  man,  he  could  not 
be  taken  seriously  as  future  chief  of  the  State.  An 
out-and-out  Protectionist,  he  had  to  rely  mainly  on 
the  support  of  adherents  of  free  trade.  With  such  a 
standard-bearer  the  movement  of  the  Independents 
was  undoubtedly  doomed  to  failure.  His  endorsement 
by  the  Democrats  did  not  improve  his  position.  Grant 
remained  master  of  the  White  House. 

The  very  heated  election  campaign  only  brought  out 
^jtso^e-strongly  the  political  and  moraldiscrepancy  be- 
tween the  system  of  stereotyped  parties  and  the'actual 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  297 

needs  of  the  day.  The  Liberal  Republicans  were 
"branded  as  *  apostates'  from  their  anti-slavery  faith'by 
the  regular  Republicans;  but  slavery,  replied  the  dis- 
sentients, had  perished  for  ever."  .  .  .  "They  were 
called  rebels,  but  the  war  had  been  over  seven  years  and 
a  half."  .  .  .  "  It  was  charged  that  they  changed  sides 
in  politics;  but  the  sides  themselves  had  been  changed 
by  events  and  the  substitution  of  new  issues  for  the  old." 
The  alliance  olihe  Liberal  Republicans-and  the  Demo- 
^cigts^concluded  under  these  circumstances,  set  up  against 
the  malignant  attitude  of  the  Republicans  not  only  a 
inoral  example,  but  a  new  method  of  politicjlaction.  This  y 

method  lifted  reality  above  convention,  andinstead  of 
keeping  men  rooted  in  the  disagreements  and  the  ani- 
mosities of  Jhe  past,  brought  them  together  or  separated  1 
them  in  accordance  with  the  factors  of  the  aew-situac  l'^ 
^twn$.     Co-operation  for  a  political  object  between  men* 
who  had  been  deeply  divided  on  another  question  was 
so  novel  a  thing  that  the  Liberal  Republicans  were  as- 
tonished and  touched  to  "discover  that  the  men  whom 
they  had  been  denouncing  with  such  hot  indignation 
for  so  many  years  were,  after  all,  very  much  like  other 
people." 

133.   Discouraged  by  the  miserable   failure  of  the  The  Inde- 
movement    of    1872,    the    independent    Republicans  Pendents 

'  '■  "^  .         as  see-saw 

changed  their  tactics.  Their  number  mcreased,  owmg  between 
to  the  scandals  of  Grant's  second  administration,  but  the  old 
they  gave  up  the  plan  of  forming  a  "third  party,"  an 
independent  party.  They  thought  it  wiser  and  more 
effective  to  play  a  see-saw  game  between  the  two  parties, 
joining  forces  with  whichever  should  bring  forward 
better  candidates  and  better  measures.     Having  stepped 


298  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

aside  at  the  presidential  election  of  1876,  because  the 
candidates  adopted  by  the  national  conventions  of  the 
parties,  Hayes  and  Tilden,  both  appeared  to  be  decent 
candidates,  the  Independents  re-entered  on  the  scene' 
to  check  the  candidature  of  Grant  for  a  third  term, 
launched  on  the  eve  of  the  elections  of  1880.  This 
candidature,  contrary  to  the  precedent  created  by 
Washington,  which  did  not  allow  the  same  man  to 
occupy  the  Presidency  for  more  than  two  terms,  was 
contrived  by  a  few  senatorial  bosses.  It  not  only  threat- 
ened the  country  with  a  return  of  the  political  corrup- 
tion which  had  marked  the  general's  two  administra- 
tions, but  was  an  audacious  attempt  by  the  Machine  to 
lay  hands  on  the  national  government;  the  Machine 
stepped  out  of  the  local  sphere,  which  had  been  till  then 
the  theatre  of  its  operations.  Owing  to  the  rivalries  of 
the  leaders.  Grant  was  defeated  at  the  convention,  as 
was  also  his  principal  rival  among  the  "politicians," 
J.  G.  Blaine,  by  a  "dark  horse"  —  Garfield.  The  In- 
dependents were  no  longer  under  the  necessity  of  follow- 
ing up  their  warlike  intentions. 
They  \  \i34.  But  four  years  later,  in  1884,  this  necessity 
come  presented  itself.     J.  G.  Blaine,  who  had  long  been  lying 

against  ^^  wait  for  the  Presidency,  appeared  to  have  it  in  his 

Blaine  grasp  this  time.     He  was  the  most  conspicuous  and  the 

most  capable  Republican  politician.  But  his  political 
integrity  was  very  questionable;  he  was  repeatedly  ac- 
cused, without  being  able  to  clear  himself,  of  having 
used  his  official  positions  for  his  personal  gain.  The 
Republican  National  Convention  paid  no  heed  to  that, 
and  nominated  him  by  a  large  majority.  The  next 
day  the  Independents  proclaimed  themselves  in  a  state 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION  299 

of  revolt.     The  investiture  conferred  on  Blaine  by  the 
National  Convention  made  it  the  duty  of  every  follower 
of  the  party  to  vote  for  him  unconditionally.    Is  party  ob-  * 
ligation  superior  to  the  moral  obligation  of  every  citizen 
to  keep  an  unworthy  man  out  of  power  ?    Must  the  in- 
dividual conscience  surrender  to  the  formal  decision  of 
this  or  that  meeting  ?     Such  was  the  sphere  into  which 
the   Independents   lifted   the   discussion.     They   prcj- 
claimed  the  "divine  right  of  bolting,"  declared  them- 
selves ready  to  vote  for  the  Democratic  candidate  if  the 
person  nominated  for   this  purpose  was  an  honour- 
able man.     When  the  Democratic  National  Convention; 
adopted  the  candidature  of  a  man  who  had  earned  the\ 
hostility  of  professional  politicians,  GrQYer_CkYeland,  for 
thelndependent  Republicans  at  once  rallied  to  hinovith  ^^^^^^^"^• 
^nphasis,  not  in  order  to  become  an  appendage  of  the 
Democratic  party,  but  solely  for  the  particular  occasion, 
in  order  to  ensure  the  best  choice  of  the  future  chief  of  the 
State.     The  campaign  was  a  remarkably  vigorous  one, 
in  spite  of  the  extremely  unfavourable  conditions  under 
which  the  Independents  had  to  fight.     They  had  no 
local  organization;    they  were  attacked  with  violence, 
reviled,  and  derided.     A  contemptuous  nickname  was 
fastened  on  them,  that  of  "Mugwumps."     The  word,  The  Mug- 
which  was  taken  from  the  language  of  the  Indians,  had  wumps. 
a  great  success,  like  that  other  word  of  the  same  lan- 
guage—  "caucus,"  but  a  success  of  a  more  elevated  kind. 
The  word  "  mugwump, "  which  meant  in  the  language 
of  the  Indians  a  chief,  a  superior  man,  was  applied 
to  the  Independents  in  ridicule  of  the  moral  superi- 
ority which  they  assumed.     But  soon   the   Indepen- 
dents consented  to  be  called  by  this  name,  and  it  passed 


300  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

into  political  language  to  denote  a  citizen  who  does  not 
make  a  fetich  of  the  party,  for  whom  the  party  is  nc>t  an 
end  but  only  a  means,  who  preserves  the  liberty  of 
his  mind  and  of  his  conscience  in  his  political  conduct. 
There  was  a  regular  revival  of  the  spirit  which  in  the 
old  days  had  led  the  great  abolitionist  fight.  Young 
men  burning  with  enthusiasm  became  missionaries, 
going  out  into  the  highways  to  win  souls.  The  purely 
moral  plane  on  which  the  Mugwumps  placed  the  con- 
test for  the  Presidency,  attracted  the  support  of  the 
clergy.  Schurz  was  indefatigable,  exerting  his  powerful 
eloquence  in  city  after  city,  in  State  after  State.  The 
day  of  battle  arrived,  and  Cleveland  was  elected  Presi- 
dent. This  result,  obtained  with  the  aid  of  the  Mug- 
wumps, was  highly  significant  and  pregnant  with  con- 
sequences; it  affirmed  that  the  obligations  of  morality 
are  as  indefeasible  in  political  life  as  in  private  life; 
it  proclaimed  that  the  conscience  of  the  elector  and 
his  private  judgment  cannot  be  fettered  by  ties  of 
party;  it  naturalized  the  Mugwump,  gave  him  citizen- 
ship in  American  politicgj^  life,  with  the  position  of 
arbiter  between  the  parties.  \ 
Bolt  of  135-   The  bolt  made  by  the  Mugwumps  was  followed 

the  Gold,      twelve  years  later  by  a  still  more  formidable  bolt,  which 

Democrats.  ,      ,  ,  .  .  .  r   i      tn 

— .^ — -  •  took  place,  on  this  occasion,  at  the  expense  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  when  the  Dempcratic  organization  thought 
it  shrewd  to  adopt  the  free  silver  idea.  The  more  cul- 
tivated and  wealthier  section  of  the  Democratic  party 
refused  to  follow,  frightened  by  the  prospect  of  the 
financial  catastrophe  which  the  establishment  of  a 
depreciated  currency  might  entail,  and  by  the  revolu- 
tionary tendencies  of  certain  elements  allied  with  the 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  301 

Silverites.  The  number  of  the  secessionists  was  very 
considerable;  never  had  such  a  bolt  been  seen  before. 
While  often  actuated  by  personal  or  class  considera- 
tions, the  "gold  Democrats,"  as  the  secessionists  were 
called,  were  obliged  to  invoke  the  general  idea  of  the 
independence  of  the  elector's  conscience.  And  never 
before  had  this  idea  been  so  complacently  expounded 
and  so  widely  accepted,  even  by  those  at  whose  ex- 
pense the  bolt  was  carried  out.  It  was  possible  to  quote 
the  declaration  of  Mr.  Bryan  himself,  made  only  a  few 
months  before  the  crisis :  '^No  convention  can  rob  me 
of  my  convictions,  nor  can  any  party  organization  drive  f 
me  to  conspire  against  the  prosperity  and  liberty  of  my  ' 
country.  ...  A  man's  duty  to  his  countryjs  higher 
than  his  duty  to  his  party." 

^e  person  of  the  candidate  who,  through  a  com- 
bination of  circumstances,  happened  unexpectedly  to 
represent  the  cause  of  the  gold  standard,  —  Mc- 
Kinley,  the  Protectionist  champion,  —  inspired  the  Gold 
Democrats  with  but  little  enthusiasm;  but  they  forgot, 
most  of  them,  their  differences  of  opinion  with  him  on 
questions  other  than  that  of  the  currency,  and  thanks 
to  their  support  he  was  elected.  He  was  elected,  not 
because  he  was  McKinley,  but  in  spite  of  his  being  Mc- 
Kinley.  The  Republicans  did  not  triumph  as  Republi- 
cans opposed  to  Democrats.  The  victory  was  not  that 
of  a  man  or  of  a  party.  For  the  first  time,  at  least 
since  the  controversy  on  slavery,  the  contest  was  fought 
on  a  special,  clearly  defined  issueT^ 

At  the  same  time,  the  new  fact  that  the  contest  was  Single-issue 
no  longer  between  two  parties  fighting  on  their  mem-  HolTs^in-  ' 
cries  and  traditions,  their  sympathies  and  antipathies,  augurated. 


302 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


"Third 
parties" 
under- 
mining 
party 
regularity. 


but  between  two  solutions  of  a  definite  problem, 
called  for  and  inaugurated  a  new  mode  of  action,  in  the 
form  of  special  organizations  grouping  the  combatants  on 
the  exclusive  basis  of  the  particular  problem  in  dispute. 
To  defend  the  cause  of  the  gold  standard  a  "Sound 
Money  League"  was  founded,  with  numerous  ramifica- 
tions  irTtRe  country,  which  brought  together  for  com- 
mon action  all  the  opponents  of  the  free  coinage  of 
silver,  irrespective  of  their  views  on  other  political  ques- 
tions. This  league  contributed  greatiy  to  the  defeat  of 
the  Silverites  by  its  vigorous  oratorical  campaign  in 
which  veteran  Mugwumps  like  Schurz,  orthodox  Re- 
publicans and  lifelong  Democrats  fought  side  by  side. 
Soon  afterwards,  when,  in  consequence  of  the  war  with 
Spain,  the  country  was  agitated  by  the  probleml.of 
*' Imperialism,"  the  policy  of  territorial  conquests  in 
which  the  Republic  was  becoming  entangled,  the,  op- 
position to  this  policy  took  shape  in  an  "  Anti-Imperial- 
ist League."  This  free  organization  brought  together 
men  who  the  day  before  had  been  fighting  one  another 
on  a  different  issue,  Silverites  and  adherents  of  gold, 
Republicans  who  had  never  deserted  their  party  and 
Independents. 

/136.  Party  regularity  beaten  down  inside  the  parties, 
by  the  bolts  to  which  political  issues  had  led,  and 
by  the  combinations  formed  by  members  of  various 
parties  on  single  issues,  was  also  undermined  by  the  in- 
dependent parties  or  the  "  third  parties,"  which  we  have 
already  seen  on  the  political  stage  in  the  guise  of  the 
party  of  "Liberal  Republicans."  The  other  "third 
parties"  were,  for  the  most  part,  formed  in  opposition 
to  the  existing  economic  regime,  they  were  the  expression 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  303 

of  the  social  discontent  which  arose  after  the  Civil  War, 
especially  in  the  agricultural  West,  and  which  I  have 
briefly  referred  to  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  The 
pursuit  of  economic  panaceas  gave  birth,  in  this  way,  to 
a  whole  series  of  new  parties  which,  after  an  ephemeral 
existence,  disappeared  to  revive  shortly  under  another 
name  and  promote  more  or  less  analogous  or  kindred 
objects.  The  most  considerable  independent  party 
was  the  "People's  party"  or  "Populists,"  a  semi- 
Socialist  party  developed  in  the  last  decade  of  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

The  advent  of  these  independent  parties  did  not  fail 
to  throw  the  ranks  of  the  old  parties  into  confusion  by 
detaching  from  them  a  good  number  of  adherents,  and 
by  introducing  fresh  elements  of  uncertainty  into  their 
existence^  The  cause  of  the  emancipation  of  the  elec- 
tor's political  conscience  benefited  thereby  in  conse- 
quence, but  in  an  indirect  or  negative  way  and  to  a 
limited  extent.  Most  of  jh^jiew  parties  had  buta  local 
existence.  Those  of  them  which  attained  the  rank  of~arTheir 
national  party,  such  as  the  Populists,  and  succeeded  in  limitations, 
winning  seats  in  Congress,  nay,  even  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  owed  their  success  to  the  alliances  whicK 
th^y  made  witLihe-old  parties jwhom  Ihgx^enounced, 
in  one  place  with  the  Republican  party,  in  another  with 
the  Democratic  party,  joining  forces  in  each  case  with  - 
the  party  in  a  minority  against  the  party  in  power. 
This  being  so,  the  dissolvent  action  which  they  were 
able  to  exert  on  the  old  parties  was  largely  neutralized. 
The  Utopian  character  of  the  favourite  remedies  of  the 
new  parties,  or  of  certain  of  their  remedies,  has,  in  its 
turn,  limited   the  dissolvent  action  of  these  parties. 


304  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE  •I'ARTY   SYSTEM 

It  has  even  brought  aiscredit  on  ''th^rd  parties"  in 
general/ and  has  helpedn[o~popullJte"th:e'ldia  that  a 
"  third  party"  is  always  Utopian,  and  that  a  man  of  good 
sense  joins  one  or  other  of  the  regular  parties. 
Prohibition-  This  discredit  brought  on  "third  parties"  has  not 
^^^*  been  removed  by  the  oldest  of  them,  the_  Prohibition 

partyj__which  aims  at  the  prohibition,  by  law,  oftEe 
manufacture  and  sale  of  spirituous  drinks.  It  rose 
against  the  old  parties  whose  organizations  protected  the 
saloon-keepers  in  return  for  electoral  services  received 
from  them,  and  purposed  to  capture  power  in  order  to 
carry  the  much-needed  reform.  From  1872  onwards 
the  Prohibitionists  ran  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
and  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  Republic,  with  a  modest 
but  increasing  success.  The  adhesions  to  the  Pro- 
hibitionist cause  were  partly  due  to  the  concern  aroused 
by  the  growth  of  alcoholism,  _but- to  a  great  extent 
to  the  disgust  with  the  old  parties  which  was  spread- 
ing among  honest  people.  But  since  the  presidential 
election  of  1896  the  Prohibitionist  vote  has  been  going 
down.  The  cause  of  prohibition  on  the  contrary  makes 
very  great  progress,  and  in  the  last  few  years  its  cham- 
pions have  succeeded  in  getting  anti-liquor  legislation 
enacted  in  most  of  the  States,  especially  in  the  South. 
This  result  has  been  largely  secured  by  a  non-partisan 
organization,  the  Anti-Saloon  League. 
^    Socialists.  The  latest  third  party  of  real   importance   is   the 

Socialist  party,  which  polled  at  the  presidential  election 
of  1904  408,000  votes,  and  at  the  election  of  1908, 
about  424,000  votes. 

137.    The  sphere  of  local  politics,  that  of  the  States, 
was  much  more  frequently  the  scene  of  resistance  to 


THE    STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  305 

party  discipline  and  Machine  rule;  but  this  resistance  Local 
had  less  significance,  because  more  often  than  not  it  ^^.^^fl^^ 
was  confused  with  the  rivalries  of  the  national  parties  Machine, 
and  the  local  quarrels  of  the  "ins"  and  the  "outs." 
Even  when  sincere,  the  attempts  at  local  independence 
quickly  died  away  under  the  concern  for  tke  welfare 
of  the  party  in  the  sphere  of  national  politics;  that 
anxiety  soon  revived  party  passion  and  brought  the 
dissentients  back  into  the  fold. 

The  separation  between  municipal  affairs  and  the 
interests  of  national  politics  was  somewhat  more  easy 
to  establish  in  the  public  mind.  The  contests,  there- 
fore, with  the  Machine  in  the  municipal  field,  could 
more  easily  influence  electoral  manners.  In  this  re- 
spect, certain  revolts  against  the  Machine  in  the  large 
cities  marked  epochs  in  American  political  methods  for 
the  same  reason  as  did  the  national  movements  which 
we  have  just  been  considering. 

The  first  of  these  municipal  risings  was  brought  Rising 
about  in  187 1,  at  New  York,  by  the  misdeeds  of  the  ^wled '^^ 
famous  Tweed  Ring.     Public-spirited   men   with   no  Ring, 
formal  mandate,  without  the  hall-mark  of  a  caucus  or 
of  a  party  convention,  volunteered  to  lead  the  assault 
against  corruption.     They  formed  themselves  into  a 
committee,   which   became   famous   under   the  name 
of  the  "Commjtff^f^  «^f  ^pvpnfy,"  and  included  men 
of  different  professions  and  political  opinions,  —  law- 
yers, bankers,  merchants,  professors,  men  of  letters, 
clergymen.     The  Committee  instituted  an  enquiry  into 
the  abuses  denounced  by  the  Press,  proved  its  case, 
and  brought  the  members  of  the  Ring  to  justice.    Then  1 
it  carried  the  next  election,  by  making  the  issue  turn  ' 


3o6 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE  PARTY   SYSTEM 


"Committee 
of  Seventy" 
initiates 
new 
methods 


solely  on  the  question  of  honest  government.  The 
Ring  was  dislodged,  the  abuses  were  partly  corrected, 
but  the  attempt  to  set  up  a  municipal  government  free 
from  party  taint  failed.  Soon  afterwards,  the  good 
citizens  having  relapsed  into  political  lethargy,  the  city 
of  New  York,  as  we  are  already  aware,  found  itself 
once  more  under  the  sway  of  Tammany  Hall. 

Nevertheless,  the  "Committee  of  Seventy,"  which 
soon  disappeared,  had  not  lived  in  vain;  even  before 
the  struggles  with  party  tyranny  had  begun  in  the 
sphere  of  national  politics,  it  had,  in  some  measure, 
laid  down  the  new  principles  of  public  action,  which 
were  about  to  make  laborious  progress,  at  one  timk  in 
the  field  of  national  struggles,  at  another  in  that  of 
local  contests.  In  fact,  the  organization  of  this  "  Com- 
mittee of  Seventy,"  without  any  popular  mandate, 
broke  the  prescription  established  in  favour  of  the 
democratic  formalism  which  had  converted  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  leadership  into  a  mechanical  process.  The 
precedent  was  created,  and  from  that  time  onward 
similar  "self-appointed  committees"  became  tolerably 
common  in  the  struggles  with  political  corruption. 
Again,  the  Committee  of  Seventy  outlined  a  new  base 
of  operations,  consisting  not  of  the  stereotyped  organi- 
zation of  an  existing  party,  but  of  a  free  combination  of 
men  without  distinction  of  party  effected  for  a  definite 
object.  The  struggles  against  party  corruption  and 
tyranny  were  to  be  crowned  with  success,  at  least  with 
moral  success,  in  the  precise  degree  to  which  use  was 
made  of  these  new  methods  of  civic  liberty  and  duty. 

138.  The  most  celebrated  municipal  Ring  next  to 
that  of  Tammany,  the  Gas  Ring  of  Philadelphia,  was 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  307 

overthrown  by  the  same  means  as  Tweed's  clique,   uniformly 
But  here  too  the  effect  was  not  lasting.     The  civic  R^rf  g^l^^d^* 
apathy  of  some  and  the  sordid  egoism  of  others  feas-  Machines, 
serted  themselves.     The  candidates  of  the  "  Committee 
of  One  Hundred"  (which  directed  the  reform  move-- 
ment  after  the  fashion  of  the  "Committee  of  Seventy" 
in  New  York),  when   elected,  often  betrayed  it  and 
went  over  to   the   regulars,  who,  they   foresaw,  had 
more  staying  qualities.      The  people  became  restive, 
and  refused  their  support  to  what  jarred  on  their  con- 
servative ideas  and  what  they  were  pleased  to  call  the  * 
dictation  of  an  autocratic,  self-constituted  body.     The 
cry  was  raised,  "  Who  made  thee  a  ruler  and  a  judge 
over  us  ?  "     However,  no  more  appropriate  method  was 
discovered  for  making  war  on  the  Machine ;  and  when- 
ever in  a  city  the  good  citizens,  weary  of  boss  rule, 
organized  a  rising,  recourse  was  had  to  a  "committee 
of  one  hundred"  or  "of  two  hundred."     New  York, 
which  had  started  this  kind  of  committee  in  187 1,  itself 
felt  the  need,  more  than  twenty  years  later,  of  calling 
in  a  new  "Committee  of  Seventy"  to  fight  the  corrup- 
tion of  Tammany  Hall. 

The  victory  over  Tammany  was  a  brilliant  one,  but  however, 
as  it  was  achieved  with  the  help  of  political  organiza-  J^^f^  *^® 
tions  which  were  the  rivals  of  Tammany,  it  allowed  Regulars, 
them  to  claim  and  to  get  for  their  men  places  in  the 
municipal  administration,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  good 
government.      This   case   was   not   unique.      All   the 
movements  described  by  the   epithet  of   independent 
paid  their  tribute  to  party  influence.     It  was  all  very 
well  applying  to  them  the  title   of   "citizens'    move- 
ments" and  giving  the  name  of  "citizens'  tickets"  to 


308  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

their  lists  of  candidates,  as  opposed  to  the  Machine 
slates.  To  succeed,  the  Independents  courted  or  ac- 
cepted the  alliance  of  a  regular  party.  Such  alliances, 
when  victorious,  helped  the  cause  of  good  govern- 
ment, first  of  all,  by  the  proof  which  was  afforded 
that  the  Machine  was  not  invincible:  the  spell  pro- 
tecting it  was  broken.  Moreover,  a  purification,  at  all 
events  a  partial  and  temporary  one,  of  the  govern- 
ment was  obtained.  But  the  Independents,  having 
agreed  to  "fight  the  devil  with  fire,"  were  obliged  to 
make  allowance  for  the  fire  and  to  admit  of  a  partial 
application  of  the  spoils  system. 
Genuine  139-    After  the  city  of  New  York,  which  had  been 

independent  rescued,  in  1 894,  from  the  power  of  Tammany,  had 
against  experienced  a  few  years  of  the  new  regime,  the  Inde- 

Tammany.  pendents  thought  that  the  city  was  ripe  for  a  genuine 
emancipation  movement  as  regards  the  parties  and  the 
Machines.  At  the  municipal  election  of  1897  they 
organized  themselves  into  a  ''Citizens'  Union"  and 
fought  a  battle  which  riveted  the  attention  of  the  whole 
country  and,  it  may  be  added,  of  the  civilized  world. 
Its  platform  boldly  proclaimed  the  principle  of  non- 
partisanship  and  put  forward  an  exclusively  municipal 
programme:  "The  Citizens'  Union  is  by  no  means 
opposed  to  the  national  parties;  it  asks  no  citizen  to 
abandon  his  party.  The  Union  merely  demands  that 
our  city  officers  shall  no  longer  be  chosen  because  they 
are  ready  and  able  to  promote  the  aims  and  ambitions 
of  one  or  the  other  of  the  national  parties.  In  national 
elections  we  must  have  national  issues,  but  in  city  elec- 
tions city  issues  alone  should  be  considered. "  In  conse- 
quence the  Union  refused  to  enter  into  negotiations 


THE    STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  309 

with  any  party  organization  even  opposed  to  Tarn-  Seth  Low's 
many  Hall,  and  itself  selected,  in  perfect  independence,  ^^"^P^^S^- 
as  candidate  for  the  post  of  mayor,  Mr.  Seth  Low,  who 
had  a  brilliant  municipal  record  as  a  reforming  ex- 
mayor  of  Brooklyn.  To  ascertain  the  reception  which 
Mr.  Low's  candidature  would  meet  with  among  the 
general  body  of  the  electors,  the  Citizens'  Union  asked 
for  the  signatures  of  all  those  who  approved  of  it.  In 
a  short  time  it  collected  more  than  one  hundred  thou-, 
sand  signatures  from  men  of  every  political  party  and 
of  every  rank  in  life. 

This  direct  appeal  to  the  people,  for  the  choice  of  a 
candidate,  over  the  head  of  all  the  regular  organiza- 
tions, and  this  popular  investiture  which  ignored  party 
distinctions,  was  a  veritable  revolution  in  American, 
political  methods.  If  it  were  to  become  the  rule,  then 
the  occupation  of  the  Machines  would  be  gone.  The  pros- 
pect of  the  defeat  of  Tammany  was  small  consolation 
to  its  Republican  rival;  its  own  existence  was  endan- 
gered. The  Republican  Organization  preferred  t6 
deliver  Greater  New  York  into  the  hands  of  Tammany. 
It  put  forward  a  third  candidate,  an  orthodox  Repub- 
lican, intended  to  attract  the  votes  of  all  the  "good^' 
Republicans  and  prevent  them  from  going  over  to  Mr. 
Low.  This  strategy  achieved  its  end.  Out  of  close 
on  500,000  votes  recorded  at  the  poll,  Mr.  Low  obtained 
nearly  150,000,  the  Republican  candidate  over  100,000, 
and  the  Tammany  candidate  nearly  230,000.  One 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  votes,  deliberately  given 
to  a  candidate  opposed  to  the  bosses,  at  the  first  trial 
ofuion^rtisanship  in  municipal  government,  in  a  city 
as  little  capable  of  displaying  public  spirit  as  the  city  of 
New  York,  was  undoubtedly  a  success. 


3IO 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Faulty 
methods 
of  the 
Reformers 
acting 
spasmodi- 
cally. 


New  de- 
parture : 
\/     permanent 
civic 
leagues. 


140.  This  result  showed  that  the  struggle  undertaken 
against  the  Machine  was  not  a  hopeless  one,  but  it 
also  proved  —  for  the  hundredth  time,  it  is  true,  or  for 
the  thousandth  —  that  it  was  not  by  sudden  attacks 
culminating  in  a  furious  assault  that  the  enemy  could  be 
overcome.  The  "Reformers"  had  never  acted  but  in  a 
spasmodic  manner,  by  fits  and  starts ;  when  they  roused 
themselves  it  was  always  too  late,  the  politicians  were 
always  a  long  way  ahead  of  them  in  the  popular  mind. 
Moreover,  the  Reformers  inclined  too  much  to  orator- 
ical resources  and  did  not  know  how,  —  or  but  seldom 
made  up  their  minds,  —  to  put  their  shoulder  to 
the  wheel,  whereas  the  Machine  did  nothing  else;  it 
"worked"  the  electors,  one  by  one,  caring  nothing  for 
displays  of  eloquence.  Even  the  more  or  less  suc- 
cessful "citizens'  movements"  were  paralyzed  in  their 
effects  by  the  exertions  which  they  entailed :  the  heroic 
character  of  these  efforts  soon  wore  out  the  zeal  of  the 
Reformers,  and  filled  them  with  a  conceit  which  made 
them  complacently  celebrate  a  triumph  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  slightest  success.  To  checkmate  the  Ma- 
chine, or  at  all  events  to  cope  with  it,  it  was  necessary 
to  display  a  less  heroic,  but  more  methodical  and  more 
steady,  activity. 

\This  lesson  taught  by  experience  was  at  last  grasped. 
Attempts  were  made  to  apply  it  with  an  effect  which 
opened  a  new  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  indepen- 
dent movements  and  of  American  political  methods. 
The  new  departure  consisted  in  non-partisan  asso- 
ciations, leagues  formed  on  a  permanent  basis  for  sys- 
tematic warfare  against  civic  indifference  ani^ptJTrETcal 
corruptionT)     They  almost  always  ain3;ed^t  municipal 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  311 

government.  Some  of  these  leagues  assumed  the  func- 
tions of  vigilance  committees,  which  kept  a  daily  watch 
on  the  people's  representatives  and  the  officials,  and 
put  constant  pressure  on  them  to  keep  them  in  the 
path  of  duty.  They  also  made  it  their  business  to 
detect  infringements  of  the  law  and  prosecute  the 
offenders.  Other  leagues  were  rather  committees  of 
investigation  and  for  initiating  legislation.  Others, 
again,  endeavoured  to  form,  by  combining  together, 
centres  of  moral  energy  and  of  civic  enthusiasm  which 
would  provide  a  steady  supply  of  motive  power  in  pub- 
lic life;  they  tried  to  bring  the  citizeni  together  and 
to  include  even  the  humblest  electors  in  civic  co-opera- 
tion by  taking  them  into  a  social  alliance.  Some  of 
these  free  associations  made  it  a  rule  not  to  intervene 
in  the  elections,  while  others  openly  took  part  in  them 
by  deciding  between  candidates  chosen  by  the  parties 
or  even  by  nominating  candidates  on  their  own  account, 
or,  again,  they  simply  volunteered  information  to  the 
electors  on  men  and  things,  likely  to  guide  them  in  their 
vote,  without  trying  to  influence  them  in  other  ways. 
Several  leagues  combined  these  various  methods  of 
action.  The  outburst  of  civic  leagues  began  in  the 
second  half  of  the  decade  1880- 1890  and  attained  a 
luxuriant  development  in  the  following  decade.  Among 
these  organizations  may  be  cited  the  City  Club  of  New 
York  with  a  number  of  Good  Government  clubs  in  the 
several  districts  of  the  city,  the  Citizens'  Association 
in  Boston,  the  Reform  League  of  Baltimore,  the  Muni- 
cipal Voters'  League  in  Chicago,  the  Municipal  Asso- 
ciation in  Cleveland,  etc. 

141.   The  success  of  these  leagues  was  very  marked 


312 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


--^Develop- 
ment of 
the  civic 
leagues. 


in  many  a  city.  At  the  elections  the  voters  accepted 
their  recommendations  with  alacrity,  most  of  the  can- 
jdidates  condemned  were  beaten,  and  most  of  those 
/whom  the  leaguoo  oupported  were  elected.  In  Chicago 
it  frequently  occurred  that  the  bosses  themselves  sub-1 
mitted  to  the  league  beforehand,  in  confidence,  the 
candidates  whom  they  intended  to  bring  forward,  and 
if  the  league  rejected  them  and  said  it  would  oppose 
them,  the  bosses  put  better  candidates  before  it.  Equally 
valuable  services  were  rendered  by  leagues  which  con- 
fined themselves  to  the  special  work  of  enforcing  the 
laws  and  the  Regulations  which  are  so  often  defeated  by 
political  influence  or  by  negligence.  Such  are  the  Law 
Enforcement  Societies  and  the  Law  and  Order  Leagues, 
which  at  one  time  made  up  for  the  shortcomings  of  the 
authorities  by  instituting  legal  prosecutions  through 
their  detectives  and  their  lawyers,  and  at  another  time 
put  pressure  on  the  officials  to  make  them  do  their 
duty. 

The  parallel  existence  in  one  city  of  societies  whose 
energies  devoted  to  local  public  life  met  or  crossed, 
and  the  necessity  of  mustering  against  political  corrup- 
tion and  civic  indifference  all  the  moral  forces  of  the 
community,  whether  organized  on  a  philanthropic,  or  re- 
ligious, or  economic,  or  social  basis,  suggested  the  idea 
of  bringing  them  into  a  central  focus.  This  idea  took 
shape  in  the  creation  of  Civic  federations.  Chicago  set 
the  example,  which  was  very  soon  followed  in  several 
cities,  such  as  San  Francisco,  Detroit,  St.  Louis,  Boston, 
etc.  The  work  of  inspection  and  enquiry  carried  on  by 
the  model  Federation  of  Chicago  extends  to  the  schools, 
to  conditions  of  labour  in  factories,  to  conflicts  between 


THE    STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  313 

employers  and  workmen.  The  Federation  has  its 
police,  its  staff  of  detectives,  its  sanitary  inspectors ;  it 
prosecutes  law-breakers ;  it  resorts  to  agitation,  and  at 
the  same  time  gives  lessons  in  good  government,  as,  for 
instance,  by  having  the  principal  streets  swept  for 
several  months  at  its  own  expense  and  at  a  cost  of 
twelve  dollars  per  mile  instead  of  the  twenty-seven  paid 
by  the  city. 

Several  of  the  civic  leagues  solicit  and  receive  the  help 
of  women.  The  co-operation  of  the  latter  in  civic  move- 
ments is  becoming  more  and  more  important.  Hold- 
ing aloof  from  party  politics,  women  descend  into  the 
arena  to  combat  the  corruption  engendered  by  the 
parties,  sometimes  joining  the  men,  sometimes  hoisting 
their  own  flag,  organizing  municipal  leagues  and  civic 
clubs  composed  of  women.  Some  rush  into  the  elec- 
toral fray,  others  endeavour  to  arouse  public  spirit  in 
a  less  militant  fashion  in  the  social  or  philanthropic 
field.  Special  citizens'  leagues  are  founded  under  the 
banner  of  Christianity  "to  make  Christian  principles 
operative  in  public  affairs."  Societies  for  political 
education,  recently  founded  in  various  places,  work  on 
the  same  lines  by  means  of  lectures  and  discussions. 
But  the  most  powerful  help  comes  from  the  independent 
Press.  Its  importance  and  its  influence  are  growing 
daily.  The  rise  of  the  independent  Press  is  alike  one 
of  the  effects  and  one  of  the  causes  of  the  public  awaken-  \ 
ing  which  is  working  against  party  politics. 

142.    On  the  whole,  thanks  to  all  these  varied  efforts  beneficial 
brought  to  bear  on  municipal  government,  the  aspect  T^suits  in 
of  things  has  changed,  perceptibly  for  the  better.     The  government 
disorders   which   marked  "the  "administration   of   the 


314 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Influence 
of  Mug- 
wumpism. 


Upheaval 
against 
"predatory 
wealth." 


American  cities  have  been  remedied  to  a  not  incon- 
siderable extent;  and  interest  in  the  public  welfare,  at 
all  events  within  this  limited  sphere,  has  been  awakened 
to  a  greater  degree  than  has  ever  been  the  case  since 
the  Civil  War.  Municipal  reform  is  not  only  before 
the  public,  but  is  fashionable.  It  has  become  almost 
the  correct  thing  to  dabble  in  it.  Electoral  manners  are 
already  strongly  influenced  by  it ;  party  "  regularit 
jAo  longer  observed  with  the  same  'strictaess  at  the 
municipal  elections;  a  "straight  ticket"  is  no  longer 
voted  with  the  same  devotion;  the  "citizens'  tickets," 
including  candidates  of  different  political  complexions, 
are  habitually  victorious!^  In  the  sphere  of  national 
politics,  the  cause  of  civic  independence  is  very  far 
from  having  made  the  same  progress ;  there  regularity 
is  still  the  supreme  law.  However,  the  national  po- 
litical life  itself  did  not  wholly  escape  the  new  notions 
about  the  independence  of  the  elector's  conscience, 
even  apart  from  the  tangible  successes  which  Mug- 
wumpism  obtained  in  certain  great  crises,  by  contribut- 
ing to  the  defeat  of  Blaine  and  to  that  of  Bryan ;  these 
notions  pervaded  the  political  atmosphere,  exercising  a 
subtle  and  deleterious  influence  on  the  traditional  senti- 
ments of  party  loyalty. 

143.  Since  these  lines  were  written  at  the  close  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  now  about  a  decade  ago,  a 
still  greater  change  for  the  better  has  taken  place, 
a  change  which  has  been  called  by  many  a  revolution. 
The  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  witnessed 
an  unexampled  prosperity  and  an  extraordinary  con- 
centration of  financial  undertakings.  Wealth  became 
more  defiant  than  ever  of  the  general  interest  and  even 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  315 

of  common  honesty.  The  patience  of  the  American 
people  burst  at  last.  Their  eyes  were  opened  to  the  ' 
greed  of  the  corporations,  to  the  dishonesty  of  high 
finance  striding  along  with  political  corruption,  develop- 
ing it,  exploiting  it.  And  with  angry  passion  the  people 
longed  to  smite  them.  The  feeling  aroused  found  a 
most  powerful  interpreter  and  inciter  in  the  new  Presi-] 
dent  who  unexpectedly  succeeded  McKinley  —  Mr. 
Theodore  Roosevelt.  His  exceptionally  combative  tem-  Roosevelt, 
per  delighting  in  a  fray,  his  aggressive  honesty  and  his 
passion  for  public  utterances  were  turned  against 
"illegitimate  wealth"  and  political  corruption.  The 
^whole  n'atrdii'was  made  to  listen  to  his  daily  impreca- 
tions of  iniquity  and  exhortations  of  righteousness.  The 
Press  seconded  him  in  that  crusade.  The  denunciations 
of  "predatory  wealth"  and  of  crooked  politicians  be- 
came a  necessary  part  of  the  daily  diet  of  the  American 
citizen.  The  supply  seemed  inexhaustible :  the  system- 
atic graft  in  the  great  cities,  the  abuses  of  the  corpora- 
tions, now  of  insurance  companies,  now  of  Standard 
^Qil,  now  of  the  meatjgackers.  The  Trust  and  the  Boss 
became  a  great  moral  issue,  and  an  emotional  hatred  of 
the  abuses  they  caused  seized  the  popular  mind.  The 
better  element  allowed  themselves  to  be  roused  from 
their  selfishness  and  apathy.  Many  well-intentioned  Civic 
people  who  had  kept  aloof  came  out,  gathering  courage  ^^^^^^^ 
and  energy  from  the  President's  moral  backing.  Young 
men  of  good  families,  inspired  by  Mr.  Roosevelt's 
example,  went  into  politics,  entered  even  the  party 
organizations  with  a  view  to  purifying  them.  Reformers 
and  reform  received  an  extraordinary  impetus.  Civic 
leagues  and  good  government  associations  multiplied 


3l6  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

tenfold.  Along  the  whole  line  there  was  a  mobilization 
of  forces  against  graft  and  political  corruption. 

While  the  stirring  influence  of  President  Roosevelt 
carried  the  middle  class,  the  feeling  of  discontent  with 
existing  conditions  was  awakened  or  intensified  in  the 
lower  orders  from  several  other  quarters,  political  and 
non-political.  The  socialist  idea  made  great  progress, 
and  the  Socialist  party,  till  then  insignificant,  gathered 
strength  and  votes.  The  Prohibition  propaganda  pur- 
suing the  suppression  of  the  liquor  trade  made  tre- 
mendous strides  all  over  the  country,  aiming  alike  at 
the  saloon  and  at  the  politician  behind  it,  both  made 
more  contemptible  amid  the  general  moral  upheaval. 
The  urban  masses  of  some  of  the  greatest  cities  were 
Hearst.  stirred  up  by  a  radical  millionaire  from  the  West,  Mr. 

W.  R.  Hearst,  who,  equipped  with  his  millions,  came 
out  single-handed  against  the  plutocracy  and  the  cor- 
rupt parties,  forming  a  party  of  himself  and,  as  his 
opponents  say,  for  himself.  The  papers  which  he 
started,  while  representing  the  extreme  type  of  sensa- 
tional journalism,  not  only  aroused  the  masses  but 
forced  even  the  "respectable  Press"  to  adopt  a  more 
radical  tone. 

These  different  influences  united  to  impress  the  Amer- 
ican people  with  the  notion  that  they  were  robbed  by 
high  finance  and  corrupt  politicians,  that  they  had  to 
recover  representative  government,  that  they  had  to 
restore  democracy  in  America.  While  several  pro- 
posals and  attempts  to  achieve  that  purpose  by  legal 
enactments,  which  will  be  examined  in  the  next  chap- 
ter, have  been  made,  the  awakened  consciousness  of  the 
nation  manifested  itself  all  over  the  land  in  a  violent 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  317 

anti-boss  movement.  That  movement  reached  its 
climax  at  the  elections  of  1905,  with  the  result  that  in 
State  after  State  many  a  boss  remained  on  the  battle- 
field. / 
144.  Along  with  pitched  batdes  against  bosses  and  Th/ 
grafters  there  has  developed  a  more  methodical  way .  ^^^""^j^^J^.  * 
of  fighting  them  through  continuous  publicity  thrown 
on  their  doings.  The  idea  obtained  that  people  toler- 
ated the  abuses  because  they  did  not  know  of  them. 
The  work  inaugurated  by  vigilance  committees  and 
associations,  like  the  Chicago  Municipal  Voters'  League, 
in  the  preceding  decade,  extended  and  broadened. 
Not  only  did  the  leagues  publish  at  the  eve  of  elections 
the  records  of  the  candidates,  for  the  instruction  of  the 
voters,  but  the  measures  under  discussion  in  the  legis- 
lative assemblies  were,  as  soon  as  presented,  scruti- 
nized and  explained  to  the  public  by  special  bureaus 
of  investigation  kept  up  by  public-spirited  citizens. 
The  pressure  of  opinion  was  brought  to  bear  on  crooked 
legislators,  who  used  to  sell  out  the  public  interest  un- 
heeded. By  analogy  with  the  classical  agency  of  the 
lobby,  working  on  behalf  of  private  interests,  those 
representatives  of  the  good  citizens  were  called  "the 
people's  lobby."  Such  watch  bureaus  have  been 
established  at  Congress  in  Washington,  at  the  legisla- 
tures of  New  York,  Illinois,  California  and  elsewhere. 
The  searchlight  of  publicity  thrown  on  legislators  and 
legislation  was  projected  on  administration  as  well  with 
the  object  of  promoting  efficient  and  economical  gov- 
ernment. A  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  founded 
in  New  York  by  and  at  the  expense  of  a  few  high-minded 
citizens,  opened  the  way  in  that  direction.     It  is  an 


3l8  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

independent  investigating  body,  which  aims  at  securing 
constructive  publicity  in  matters  pertaining  to  munici- 
pal problems;  it  collects,  analyzes,  and  interprets  facts 
as  to  the  administration  of  municipal  government.  It 
V  asks  for  the  co-operation  of  the  city  officials,  and  gets  it 

from  their  fear  of  public  opinion. 
Direct  ap-         The  voluntary  leaders  who  come  forth  in  increasing 
peal  to  the    numbers  at  the  head  of  those  Bureaus  of  Research, 

people. 

People's  Lobbies  and  Voters'  Leagues  appeal  from  the 
party  organizations  to  the  people.  That  is  the  new 
method  —  strange  as  such  an  innovation  may  appear 
in  a  democracy.  That  method  has  been  taken  up  by 
the  best  of  the  highest  public  officers  themselves, 
State  governors  and  mayors,  who,  when  confronted  by 
the  Machine  in  the  legislatures  on  this  or  that  measure, 
;o  straight  to  the_people^,-&faiaping  the  State  or  the 
'^^^'tyr^^^^f^TrTTTTSe  lines  were  carried  on,  during  these 
last  years,  the  greatest  and  most  successful  struggles 
against  the  Machine  in  Wisconsin,  Missouri,  Minne- 
sota, New  York,  by  Governors  La  Follette,  Folk, 
Johnson,  Hughes.  The  battles  waged  by  the  governor 
of  New  York,  now  acclaimed  by  the  people  and  strik- 
ing to  all  appearances  the  Machine  at  its  very  heart, 
and  now  defied  by  the  Machine  and  kept  in  check  by 
it,  formed  the  most  dramatic  incident  in  recent  politics 
and  the  most  characteristic  of  the  existing  conditions. 
Indeed,  in  1905  and  since  a  great  number  of_boss£^ 
T?^ere-^laughtered,  but^jJie^J^achlne_is_^^ 
The  fundamental  conditions,  political,  economic,  and 
social,  which  make  for  the  boss  are  still  there,  and  in 
many  quarters  a  fear  is  expressed  that  the  Machine 
may  wear  down  the  good  citizens  called  out  on  a  vigi- 
lance duty  to  which  they  are  unaccustomed. 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  319 

145.  However,  the  movement  has  affected  deeply  Results 
enough,  for  the  better,  the  political  society  at  large,  achieved, 
the  parties,  and  the  Machine  itself.  In  public  life  a 
higher  tone  prevails,  the  ethical  standards  have  im- 
proved in  politics  as  well  as  in  business.  There  is  in 
the  community  more  political  and  social  consciousness, 
the  individual  is  more  impressed  with  his  duties  and 
responsibilities  towards  the  State  and  his  fellow-men. 
The  better  element  have  developed  a  greater  interest 
in  civic  affairs,  and  the  private  citizen  in  public  service 
is  now  more  prominent  than  ever  before.  Under  the 
exposures  of  the  abuses  not  only  has  moral  callous- 
ness given  way  but  also  intellectual  supineness  and 
self-complacency;  the  public  mind  has  broadened,  be- 
come more  accessible  to  ideas  and  more  tolerant  of 
what  had  been  hitherto  considered  as  radical  notions. 

^^lis  'greater  mental  freedom  has  manifested  itself  Extraordi- 
most  saliently  in  the  life^Tthrp^rties,  where  boss  rule  "^7  growth 
has  given  an  object-lesson  of  the  effects  of  party  idolatry,   pendence 
The  latter  has  not  been  destroyed,  but  it  has  lost  great  in  politics, 
numbers   of   its   worshippers.     In   the   States   of   the 
Middle  West  especially  the  lines  of  party  hjjVe  been 
broken    and    brought    into    utter    confusion.^  Third 
parties  have  been  developed  or  formed  anew.     The 
Socialist  party  has  made  strides.     Mr.  Hearst  founded 
an  Independence  League,  proclaiming  that  the  reforms 
necessary  for  restoring  the  power  of  government  to  the 
people  could  not  well  be  accomplished  either  within 
the  old  parties  or  in  conjunction  with  the  old  parties. 
This  new  organization,  after  having  played  a  promi- 
nent part  in  upheaving  the  political  soil  of  New  York 
and  bringing  its  creator  almost  within  reach  of  the 


320  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

mayoralty  of  the  Atlantic  capital,  was,  like  so  many 
third  parties,  not  a  lasting  success,  ^ut  indepen- 
dence asserted  itself  most  powerfully  within  the  old 
parties.  Swarms  of  voters  cast  off  party  regularity 
like  an  old  garment  and  shifted  from  one  party  to  an- 
other, looking  out  for  the  better  candidate  or  the 
sounder  issue.  In  municipal  elections  especially  voters 
began  to  care  much  more  than  at  any  time  before  not 
for  the  party  label  but  for  the  merit  of  the  man.  This 
tendency  spread  into  the  State  elections  and  even  to  the 
national  elections.  People  voted  at  the  same  time  for 
a  Democratic  governor  and  for  a  Republican  President 
or  vice  versa.  The  voting  of  a  split  ticket  became  quite 
common.     Partyjjnes  becamej£ss-and  less  rigid. 

The  independent  voter  having  become  arpower  in  the 
land,  the  Machine  had  to  recognize  him,  to  cater  for 
him,  to  become  more  decent.  Tanimany  Hall  has  pre- 
sented a  most  eloquent  example  of  it\  The  caliber  of 
candidates  has  greatly  improved  all  over  the  country. 
The  municipal  government  has  become  purer.  The 
legislatures  too  have  improved  in  many  a  State.  The 
force  of  public  opinion,  used  more  frequently,  became 
more  potent.  The  possibility  of  appealing  to  it  success- 
fully, through  discussion  of  issues  and  of  personS;  has 
been  demonstrated  over  and  over  again. 
^-More  easily  aroused,  public  opinion  is  still  liable  to 
proceed  by  spasms,  and  there  is  a  strong  tendency  to 
make  up  for  personal  exertion  and  continuous  vigilance 
by  some  contrivances  of  governmental  machinery,  a 
tendency  to  expect  salvation  from  the  legislatorT? 


FIFTEENTH  CHAPTER 

THE  STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION   {cOflclusion) 

146.   The  tendency  to  put  down  political  corruption  Legislative 
by  means  of  legislation  took  shape  from  the  very  begin-  measures 
ning  of  the  struggles  for  emancipation.     At  the  same  corruptioa 
time  as  the  "  Reformers  "  endeavoured  to  dislodge  the 
politicians  in  pitched  battles,  they  tried  to  suppress  the 
opportunities    for   corruption   by   legislative   reforms. 
Their  first  attempts  were  aimed  at  the  degradation  of 
the  public  service  by  the  spoils  system.     This  system, 
which  had  made  public  office  an  electoral  coin  for  re- 
warding services  rendered  to  the  parties  or  simply  to 
the  bosses,  had  alike  demoralized  political  life  and  de- 
teriorated   the   government.     Skill    in    electoral  wire-  Spoils 
pulling  and  "work"  done  for  the  party  constituted  ^^^^^^^ 
the  sole  claim  to  office,  at  the  expense  of  real  merit 
and  even  of  honesty.    Owing  to  the  practice  of  rotation, 
the  government  departments  were  periodically  upset 
with  every  change  of  the  party  in  power.     The  Presi- 
dent and  the  heads  of  the  departments  with  whom  the 
appointment  to  offices  rested  as  a  matter  of  right,  and 
the  members  of  Congress  who  had  snatched  it  from 
them,  were  all  continually  exposed  to  the  solicitations  of 
the  office-seekers.     They  had  to  waste  with  them,  even 
in  the  gravest  conjunctures,  the 'time  that  ought  to 
have  been  given,  to  affairs  of  State.     Lincoln  said,  a 
Y  321 


322  DEMOCRACY   AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

month  after  his  accession,  that  he  wanted  to  attend  to 
the  Southern  question,  but  that  the  office-seekers  took 
up  all  his  time.  His  successors  have  not  fared  any 
better.  Every  aspirant  wanted  to  "interview"  the 
President,  even  when  the  appointment  was  not  in  his 
gift.  The  greedy  throng  pressed  on  at  Washington,  and 
if  some  came  back  empty-handed,  others  succeeded  in 
carrying  off  the  places  by  sheer  importunity.  The  Re- 
public was  regularly  looted.  "If  ever,"  said  Lincoln 
on  this  subject,  "this  free  people,  if  this  government 
itself  is  ever  utterly  demoralized,  it  will  come  from 
this  wriggle  and  struggle  for  office." 

It  was  absolutely  necessary  to  withdraw  the  selection 
of  officials  from  political  favouritism,  from  party  in- 
fluence, but  how  ?  The  experience  of  the  mother  coun- 
try appeared  to  offer  the  means  in  the  form  of  a  system 
of  admission  to  office  by  open  competition.  Favour- 
itism had  long  flourished  in  England  and  with  equally 
disastrous  effects;  the  patronage  of  the  Crown,  which 
afterwards  passed  into  the  hands  of  members  of  Par- 
liament, had  been  but  a  source  of  corruption,  and  at 
best  made  public  office  an  appanage  of  the  privileged 
few.  The  competition  system  introduced  into  England, 
from  and  after  1853,  for  admission  to  the  lower-grade 
appointments,  had  thrown  these  open  to  merit.  A 
by  a  plan  modest  Congressman  of  Rhode  Island,  Jenckes,  made 
of  merit  himself  the  promoter  of  a  similar  reform  in  the  States, 
dvifservice.  Year  after  year,  from  j867onwards,  he  indefatigably 
submitted  to  Congress  a  series  of  bills  supported  by  a 
remarkable  array  of  data,  but  without  success.  The 
places,  which  cost  the  members  of  Congress  nothing, 
provided  a  large  fund  with  which  they  could  buy  elec- 


THE    STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  323 

toral  services,  and  they  had  not  the  slightest  wish  to 
deprive  themselves  of  this  resource,  in  spite  of  all  the 
annoyance  caused  them  by  the  importunities  of  the 
office-seekers.  From  that  time  a  duel  began  between 
the  politicians,  with  the  members  of  Congress  at  their 
head,  who  clung  to  the  spoils  system,  and  public 
opinion,  which  was  gradually  won  over  to  "  civil  service 
reform"  on  the  plan  of  competitive  examination. 

147.    The  struggle,  begun  soon  after  the  Civil  War,   Struggle  for 
still  goes  on.     President  Grant  and  his  successor  Haves  ^^V^  service 

-  -___i— —reform. 

made  earnest  efforts  ^o  help  to  bring  about  the  re- 
form, but  they  were  checkmated  by  Congress.  The 
champions  of  reform  did  not  allow  themselves  to 
lose  heart.  Many  of  them  saw  in  it  the  germ  of  a 
veritable  revolution  in  American  public  life:  not  only 
would  favouritism  make  way  for  merit  and  public 
office  cease  to  be  an  object  of  traffic,  but  the  Execu- 
tive, relieved  from  the  pressure,  henceforward  with- 
out avail,  of  members  of  Congress,  would  recover  its 
independence,  while  the  legislature  would  be  restored 
to  its  proper  function ;  last,  but  not  least,  the  Machines 
would  no  longer  be  able  to  subsist ;  there  being  no 
places  to  give  away,  there  could  be  no  "workers" ;  the 
bosses,  being  unable  to  support  their  men,  would  be 
deserted,  and  before  long  the  tribe  of  mercenary  poli- 
ticians would  perish  from  inanition ;  booty  no  longer 
being,  because  non-existent,  the  object  of  the  or- 
ganized parties,  the  latter  would  be  able  to  revert  to 
their  proper  mission,  to  reform  on  the  footing  of  ideas 
and  common  principles. 

There  arose  in  different  parts  of  the  Union  special  as- 
sociations of  friends  of  the  reform,  who  applied  them- 


324  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

Propaganda  selves  to  its  propaganda.    Federated  soon  afterwards  into 
o  vo  untary  ^  League,  these  associations  canvassed  public  opinion 

associations.  o      '  r  r 

with  remarkable  perseverance  and  patience.  The  task 
was  by  no  means  easy,  for  the  indifference  of  opinion  was 
great;  every  one  had  got  so  accustomed  to  the  spoils  sys- 
tem that  it  was  considered  part  of  the  natural  order  of 
things.  It  was  almost  the  correct  thing  to  turn  the  re- 
form into  ridicule.  Objections  of  a  serious  kind,  or  con-"* 
sidered  as  such,  abounded :  the  reform  tended  to  set  up 
an  insolent  bureaucracy,  an  aristocracy  of  office-holders ; 
it  was  an  English  importation ;  it  was  contrary  to  the 
democratic  genius  of  the  American  people;  it  was  de- 
structive of  the  independence  of  the  Executive  and  of  its 
constitutional  prerogatives ;  the  system  of  examinations 
was  pedantic  and  incapable  of  bringing  out  the  merits 
of  the  candidates ;  the  existing  system  was  necessary  for 
maintaining  the  cohesion  of  the  parties,  and  without 
parties  a  popular  government  cannot  exist,  etc.  Slowly, 
like  the  drops  of  water  which  wear  away  the  stone,  the 
apostles  of  "civil  service  reform"  destroyed  the  com- 
mon prejudices  against  it,  they  converted  people  one 
by  one.  The  politicians  paid  attention  to  this  move- 
ment, in  their  fashion,  by  inserting  in  the  party  plat- 
forms platonic  declarations  in  its  favour,  without 
believing  a  word  of  them.  The  revolver  shot  of  a  dis- 
appointed office-seeker  which  killed  President  Garfield 
converted  a  number  of  people  to  "civil  service  reform." 
The  members  of  Congress,  however,  were  not  among 
the  converts.  Nothing  less  than  the  serious  defeat 
suffered  by  the  Republican  party  at  the  Congressional 
elections  of  1882  and  the  prospect  of  the  accession  to 
power  of  the  Democrats  who  would  divide  among  them- 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  325 

selves  the  spoils  were  required  to  change  the  views  of 
the  Republican  majority  in  Congress.  Reinforced  by 
a  certain  number  of  Democrats,  that  majority  promptly 
passed  the  bill  of  Senator  Pendleton,  which  in  reality 
was  the  work  of  the  Civil  Service  Reform  League. 

148.  This  bill,  which  became  law  on  the  i6th  of  civil 
January ^1881^  is  the  Magna  Charta  of  civil  service  ^^^^^^^  ^^ 
reform.  It  set  up  competitive  examinations  for  admis-____ 
sion  into  all  branches  of  the  executive  civil  service  of 
the  United  States  which  have  been  "  classified '*  for  that 
purpose.  While  including  in  the  "classified  service" 
almost  all  the  departments  at  Washington  and  po5t^ — . 
offices  and  custom-houses  with  not  less  than  50  employees 
apiece,  the  law  empowered  the  President  to  continue  the 
"classification"  of  public  offices, — that  is  to  say,  to  ex- 
tend the  operation  of  the  law  to  new  branches  of  the 
executive  civil  service.  Certain  categories  have  been 
exempted  from  classification,  particularly  the  most  im- 
portant ones,  those  which  are  filled  up  by  the  President 
under  the  Constitution  with  the  confirmation  of  the 
Senate,  and  the  posts  which  come  at  the  other  end  of  the 
hierarchical  ladder,  those  of  simple  labourers  or  work- 
men. Classification  is,  in  short,  applied  or  applicable 
to  the  small  employees  only,  such  as  clerks,  etc.  Be- 
sides, certain  positions  within  the  classified  service  may 
be  excepted  from  the  requirement  of  competitive  exami- 
nation by  the  rules  which  the  President  is  empowered  to 
make.  The  unclassified  offices  and  those  excepted 
by  the  President  are  filled  up  in  the  old  way,  while  to 
the  classified  offices  the  chiefs  can  only  appoint  one  out  of 
three  of  the  candidates  certified  to  them  as  having  passed 
the  competitive  examination  heading   the  list  in  the 


326  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

order  of  merit.  Once  appointed,  they  cannot  be  removed 
for  political  reasons ;  but  the  chiefs  retain  a  discretionary 
power  to  dismiss  their  subordinates  for  reasons  uncon- 
nected with  politics.  While  forbidding  the  chiefs  to  put 
any  political  pressure  on  their  subordinates,  the  law  also 
prohibits  them,  as  the  reader  is  already  aware,  from 
soliciting  or  receiving  from  them  contributions  to  the 
party  funds. 
How  the  Attempts  were  made  to  evade  or  even  to  openly  break 

law  worked.  j|-g  provisions  ;  but,  on  the  whole,  the  letter  of  the  law 
^haS-been-obeyed.  The  same  thing  cannot  be  said  of  its 
spirit.  The  officials  were  no  doubt  appointed  by  com- 
petition, but  they  were  often  taken  from  among  the 
adherents  of  the  party  in  power.  The  abuses  are  disap- 
pearing more  and  more,  thanks  to  the  extreme  vigilance 
of  the  civil  service  reform  associations  with  their  central 
League.  These  private  organizations,  whose  propa- 
ganda had  powerfully  contributed  to  the  passing  of  the 
law,  now  mount  guard  around  it.  The  offices  with^>> 
drawn  from  competition,  ^nd  they  include  Ihs^-^ttest 
important,  are  still  distributed  as__sg[gils.  Such  has 
been  the  case  since  1883,  under  all  thePresidents. 
The  "clean  sweep"  was  carried  out  as  before,  although 
confined  to  the  posts  "unprotected"  by  the  law  of 
1883.  Besides,  promotion  in  the  service  is  practically 
still  JiQQ_Jmm  any  regulation  and  therefore  still 
exposed  to  political  influence.  However,  the  atmos- 
phere has  become  purer  in  the  "non-classified"  ser- 
vice too...  Political  assessments  have  gradually  discon- 
tinued and  have  now  become  almost  a  matter  of  the 
past.  Office-holders  do  contribute,  but  they  are  no 
longer    coerced  thereto.      Yet    their    undue    political 


THE    STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  327 

activity,  although  emphatically  condemned  by  the  law 
of  1883  and  by  the  Executive  instructions  of  Presi- 
dents Cleveland  and  Roosevelt,  still  goes  on  in  a 
scandalous  way.  Paid  out  of  the  public  treasury,  the 
office-holders  are  really  campaign  managers  of  members 
of  Congress  and  are  chosen  for  political  and  not  pro- 
fessional fitness. 

149.  The  effect  of  the  bestowal  in  the  old  way  of  the  Progress  of 
non-competitive  places  and  of  partisan  promotions  ^^^  reform, 
within  the  classified  service  was  attenuated  by  the  steady 
extension  of  that  service,  which  at  the  time  of  the 
enactment  of  the  law,  in  1883,  included  only  14,000 
places.  This  extension  was  brought  about  partly  in  an 
automatic  manner,  in  consequence  of  the  development  of 
the  service  which  raised  the  number  of  the  employees  of 
an  office  to  50,  and  partly  by  presidential  authority.  Al- 
most all  the  Presidents  in  succession  after  1883,  and  espe- 
cially Cleveland  and  Roosevelt,  have  enlarged  the  *'  classi- 
fied*' service.  McKinley  was  the  only  president  under 
whom  the  extension  of  the  reform  and  even  the  sincere 
enforcement  of  the  law  met  with  a  check.  Towards  the 
end  of  his  second  administration,  in  1896,  Cleveland 
*  ^classifieds*  more  than  30,000  offices.  During~Koose^^ 
velt's  administrations ^32^000  offices^ave  been  trans- 
ferred from  the  unclassified  to  the  classified  service. 
On  the  other  hand  the  executive  civil  service  has  in- 
creased under  him  by  more  than  1 16,000  offices,  of  which 
over  80,600  came  in  the  classified  service  in  accordance, 
with  the  law.  The  formal  provisions  of  the  law  of  1883; 
completed  by  the  successive  extensions  of  the  classified 
service,  had  brought  into  it  about  220,000  offices  out  of 
over  350,000  which  exist  in  the  FederaPservice.     The 


328  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

number  of  non-classified  offices  now  is  about  i^o,5oo^jof 
which  about_87QQ_areJlpresid£ntialii-office8,  filled  -with 
the  confirmation  of  the  Senate,  and  22,000  "labourers" 
situations.  Thus  there  is  still  left  a  field  of  pasture 
for  the  politicians. 

Moreover,  Federal  offices  form  but  a  part  of  the 
fund  of  corruption ;  offices  in  the  service  of  the  States 
and  of  the  municipalities,  which  afford  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  spoils,  have  been  withdrawn  to  a  slight 
extent  only  from  the  political  plunderers.  The  com- 
petitive system,  started  in  the  Federal  administration,  for 
a  long  time  had  great  difficulty  in  penetrating  into  the 
service  of  the  States  and  of  the  cities,  and  still  more  in 
being  honestly  enforced.  Two  States  only  had  promptly 
followed  the  example  set  by  the  Federal  legislature, 
New  York  and  Massachusetts.  Within  these  last  years 
only  four  other  States  adopted  the  reform,  and  in  some 
cases  only  in  limited  application  to  certain  areas  or 
certain  offices :  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Colorado,  New  Jer- 
sey. The  competitive  system  has  made  more  progress 
in  the  municipal  sphere,  where  remedies  for  the  rule  of 
rings  and  bosses  are  such  a  crying  necessity.  The 
effect  of  the  reform  in  the  States  and  the  cities  varies 
a  good  deal,  but  generally  it  is  much  less  thorough  than 
in  the  Federal  service.  In  some  places  the  provisions 
enacted  are  a  sham  and  their  application  is  a  farce, 
while  in  other  places  the  rules  work  very  well,  perhaps 
better  than  in  the  Federal  service. 
Effects  of  150-   On  the  whole,  to  the  limited  extent  in  which  it 

the  reform,  -y^as  applied,  the  reform  yielded  very  good  results.  It 
procured  more  competent,  more  honest  employees. 
Stability  became  almost  the  rule  in  the  competitive 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR   EMANCIPATION  329 

service,  and  in  any  event  presented  a  singular  contrast 
to  the  sweeping  changes  carried  out  in  the  "unpro- 
tected'' service,  namely,  in  the  "excepted"  positions, 
and  still  more  in  the  "unclassified"  offices.  Com- 
plaints have  often  been  heard,  of  late,  about  the  inade- 
quate efficiency  of  the  reformed  civil  service :  employees 
protected  by  law  in  their  positions  feel  less  responsi- 
bility and  are  inclined  to  form  a  red  tape  bureaucracy, 
while  the  chiefs  are  somewhat  hampered  in  dismissing 
incompetent  officials.  From  a  general  point  of  view! 
the  political  effects  of  the  reform  are  not  as  yet  very 
conspicuous;  it  has  not  killed  the  bosses  and  the  Ma- 
chines, for,  if  the  supply  of  spoils  has  diminished,  there 
is  still  enough  left  to  inspire  their  henchmen  with 
hopes  and  to  make  them  "work."  Moreover,  the 
"  classified  "  offices,  taken  out  of  politics,  have  been  made 
up  for  by  the  very  numerous  offices  recently  created 
in  consequence  of  the  extraordinary  development  of 
government  regulation,  which  is  therefore  much  ap- 
proved of  by  the  politicians. 

But,  in  any  event,  there  is  one  effect  produced  by  the 
movement  for  civil  service  reform  which  is  a  permanent 
gain,  and  that  is  the  moral  effect  of  the  propaganda. 
After  the  Civil  War,  when  public  spirit  seemed  to  be  in 
a  state  of  coma,  when  the  political  conscience  of  the  com- 
munity, engrossed  in  the  mad  pursuit  of  material  pros- 
perity, was,  as  it  were,  blunted  or  deadened,  this  move- 
ment against  the  spoils  system  rekindled  the  extinguished 
flame  of  the  ideal  in  American  public  life;  it  stirred  the 
choicer  spirits  to  an  outburst  of  generous  revolt;  it  en- 
listed genuine  devotion  and  unselfish  ardour  in  a  crusade 
to  regenerate  democracy.     The  civic  enthusiasm  which 


330 


DEMOCRACY   AND    THE    PARTY    SYSTEM 


Reducing 

election 

expenditure. 


animated  the  noblest  and  the  most  eminent  of  these  men, 
like  G.  W.  Curtis  and  Carl  Schurz,  —  to  mention  the 
dead  only,  —  spread  to  a  number  of  young  men  now 
scattered  all  over  the  Union ;  it  will  not  die  out  in  them 
nor,  in  all  probability,  with  them.  There  was  formed  in 
American  society  a  sort  of  permanent  fund  of  political 
righteousness  from  which  high-minded  men  drew  their 
moral  supplies  in  every  great  crisis,  in  all  the  politi- 
cal struggles  which  filled  these  last  forty  years.  The 
body  of  civil  service  reformers  furnished  large  contin- 
gents of  the  mugwumps,  the  independents,  and  the 
municipal  reformers. 

151.  After  the  endeavours  to  starve  the  Machine  by 
putting  the  public  offices_out  of  its  reach,  attempts  were 
made  to  deprive  it  of  another  means  of  subsistence. 
The  principal  source  of  its  influence  was  thought  to  lie  in 
the  fact  that  it  had  obtained  possession  of  the  material 
organization  of  the  elections,  which  included  especially 
the  printing  of  the  voting-papers  and  the  distribution  of 
them.  The  considerable  outlay  necessitated  by  all 
these  operations,  added  to  the  varied  expenses  of  the 
election  campaign,  raised  election  expenditure  to  such 
a  point  that  it  became  impossible  for  a  new  party,  and 
all  the  more  for  an  independent  candidate,  if  he  was 
not  very  rich,  to  enter  the  lists.  Again,  the  expendi- 
ture required  gave  the  Machine  a  pretext  for  levying 
assessments  on  the  candidates  and  an  opportunity  for 
obtaining  enormous  resources.  Henry  George,  the 
author  of  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  summed  up  the 
situation  in  the  following  formula,  "What  we  call  Ma- 
chine politics  springs  from  the  cost  of  elections."  To 
checkmate  the  Machine  the  first  thing  to  be  done, 
therefore,  was  to  reduce  election  expenditure. 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  331 

The  Australian  system  of  secret  voting,  which  has  been  Agitation    ^ 
adopted  to  prevent  acts  of  intimidation  and  corruption,  ^f^  ^^^„ 

1  .  1    1    r        ,  11.  ,       .  .  .  ^    Australian 

also  provided  for  the  public  authorities  preparing  and  system, 
distributing  the  voting-papers  at  the  expense  of  the 
State.  There  lay  the  solution  of  their  problem,  thought 
the  American  "reformers,"  and  they  started  a  propa- 
ganda in  favour  of  the  adoption  of  the  Australian  sys- 
tem in  its  entirety.  The  Australian  Ballot  forthwith 
became  a  most  dangerous  rival  of  civil  service  reform,  as 
a  panacea  for  the  evils  which  afflicted  American  political 
life.  It  would  not  only  stop  bribery  and  intimidation  of 
the  electors;  it  would  deprive  the  Machine  of  a  pre- 
text for  interfering  with  elections,  for  employing  "work- 
ers," for  levying  assessments,  and  would  strip  its  candi- 
datures of  their  privileged  character;  the  assent  of  the 
Machine  would  no  longer  be  required  for  getting  on  the 
printed  list;  the  State,  which  would  henceforth  make 
up  this  ballot,  would  enter  every  candidate  on  it,  whether 
recommended  by  a  party  organization  or  not.  The^ 
promoters  of  the  reform  succeeded  in  creating  a  genuine 
current  of  opinion  in  its  favour,  sermons  were  preached 
in  the  churches  for  the  Australian  Ballot,  numerous 
petitions  were  addressed  to  the  legislatures,  and  eventu- 
ally the  reformers  succeeded  in  intimidating  the  politi- 
cians entrenched  in  those  assemblies :  against  their  will 
the  latter  introduced  the  Australian  system.  In  a  few 
years  ahnost  all  the  States  of  the  Union  adopted  the 
Australian  Ballot,  or  what  was  considered  as  such. 

152.  I  have  already  explained,  in  the  proper  place,   Official 
the  economy  of  the  system  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  voting- 
secrecy  of  the  vote.     The  second  part  of  the   reform,  troduced. 
which  introduces  the  official  voting-paper,  organizes  it 


332 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


The  reform 
not  quite 
successful. 


in  the  following  manner.  On  the  approach  of  an  elec- 
tion the  names  of  the  candidates  put  forward  are  com- 
municated, within  the  prescribed  periods,  to  the  public 
authority.  [The  latter  enters  them  on  the  list  if  the 
candidatures  emanate  from  a  more  or  less  considerable 
group  of  electors.  The  law  concedes  this  character  in 
the  first  instance  to  the  political  parties,  by  admitting 
the  candidates  duly  nominated  in  conventions  or  prima- 
ries and  certified  as  such  by  the  committee  of  the  respec- 
tive party.  Every  electoral  group  is  considered  as  a 
political  party  for  this  purpose  which  has  run  candidates 
at  the  preceding  election,  and  has,  according  to  the  leg- 
islation of  most  of  the  States,  polled  a  certain  minimum 
of  votes,  varying,  with  the  States,  from  lo  to  i  per  cent 
of  the  total  number  of  the  voters.  The  candidates  of 
the  less  important  "parties"  or  the  independent  candi- 
dates must,  to  be  entered  on  the  official  ballot,  be  pre- 
sented by  a  special  petition  or  nomination  paper  signed 
by  a  certain  number  of  electors.  The  printed  copies  of 
the  lists  of  the  candidates  are  handed  on  the  polling- 
day  to  each  elector  by  the  election  officers  to  serve  as 
ballots;  retiring  forthwith  into  a  booth  or  a  compart- 
ment screened  from  observation,  he  marks  on  the  list 
the  candidates  of  his  choice,  and  gives  it  back  properly 
folded  to  be  deposited  in  the  ballot-box!)  The  elector 
may  not  use  other  voting-papers  than  the  official  ones; 
but  he  is  at  liberty  to  vote  for  candidates  not  entered  on 
the  official  ballot,  by  writing  their  names  on  his  voting- 
paper  (except  in  the  State  of  Indiana). 

153.  The  reform,  so  far  as  it  aimed  at  depriving  the 
Machme_o|_ita_j2]ucaiopoly  in  elections,  proved  almost 
a  failure;  it  even  aggravated  the  situation.     Election 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR   EMANCIPATION  333 

expenditure  is  almost  as  high  as  before.  The  levy  of 
the  assessments  goes  on  for  the  very  simple  reason  that 
the  candidates  did  not  depend  on  the  organization  of  the 
party  for  the  distribution  of  the  voting-papers  only ;  they 
received  from  it  their  actual  title  of  candidates  of  the 
party,  which  it  could  grant  or  refuse.  Far  from  cur.- 
tailinpr  fhit;  arbitrary  pnwpr^  the  Australian  BalloLJias 
unintentionally  given  it  a  legnl  san^tii?nj  by  ndmitting  i^ 
party  candidates  only  on  a  certificate  of  the  cosmiittee-^ 
ot  the  organization.  Again,  by  conceding  the  status 
of  party  to  the  greaTparties  only,  the  Taw  has^Taced 
them  in  a  privileged  position. 

ficBe  independent   candidatures,  which  the  law,  ac-  Indepen- 
cording  to  the  intention  of  its  promoters,  was  to  multi-  ^^"^  ^^^^^" 
ply,  have  now  greater  difficulty  in  arising,  thanks  to  this  handi- 
very  law,  which  requires  them  to  be  presented  through  capped, 
petitions.     A  good  many  electors  would  have  no  objec- 
tion to  vote  for  an  independent  candidate,  but  they  do 
not  care  to  expose  themselves.     Moreover,  the  mini- 
mum of  signatures  required  is  often  too  high,  and  as 
the  regular  parties    take  care  to  make  known   their 
candidates  at  the  last  moment  only,  the  independents 
have  not  sufficient  time  to  get  up  the  petition  for  bring- 
ing out  their  own  candidates.     Before  the  introduction 
of   the  Australian   Ballot  an  independent  candidature 
could   arise  at  any  moment  and    appeal  for  support 
without  any  preliminary  condition. 

The  system  of  grouping  the  candidates  is  also  preju-  Party 
dicial  to  the  independent  candidates.     The  laws  of  the  columns  and 

^  alphabetical 

different  States  provide  two  such  systems :  the  one,  com-  arrange- 
monly  called  the  "Massachusetts  ballot,"  arranges  the  "i^^t. 
candidates  under  the  title  of  the  office,  all  the  candidates 


334 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Difl5culties 
increased 
by  the 
blanket- 
ballot, 


without  distinction  in  alphabetical  order  with  mention 
of  the  parties  which  they  represent.  The  second  system 
groups  the  candidates  in  "party  columns,"  each  col- 
umn containing  the  candidates  of  one  party  only,  for 
every  office  voted  for,  at  first  the  candidates  of  the  regu- 
lar parties  and  then  behind  them  the  other  candidates. 
Neither  system  can  really  claim  the  title  of  Australian,  as 
this  latter  system  admits  of  no  party  designation  on  the 
ballot.  Still  the  grouping  of  the  candidates  under  the 
title  of  the  office  puts  them  all  on  a  footing  of  equality, 
whereas  in  the  second  system  the  candidates  of  the 
parties  are  brought  to  the  special  notice  of  the  electors. 
With  the  party  column  the  elector  is  tempted,  instead 
of  discriminating  between  the  candidates,  instead  of 
judging  the  men,  to  look  at  the  label  only,  and  the  more 
so  that  the  law  relieves  him  of  the  obligation  of  marking 
the  names  one  by  one,  enabling  him  to  make  a  general 
mark,  a  cross  in  a  small  circle  printed  for  this  purpose 
above  the  title  of  the  party,  to  show  that  he  votes  for  the 
whole  list  of  the  party  in  a  lump/ 
/154.  The  large  number  of  el^tive  offices  and  of  the 
candidates  of  different  parties  for  each  office,  who  are 
generally  classified  on  a  single  voting-paper,  makes  the 
latter  a  document  of  such  extraordinary  dimensions  that 
it  has  got  the  nickname  of  "  blank£t=ballot."  ^  How  can 
the  elector  examine  such  a  list  properly  during  the  few 
minutes  at  his  disposal  for  marking  it,  in  the  isolated^ 
compartment  into  which  he  withdraws  with  the  paper 
that  he  has  just  received   from  the  election  board? 

^  I  have  in  my  possession  a  blanket-ballot  of  the  State  of  Illinois 
of  moderate  dimensions,  as  it  contains  four  columns  only,  whereas 
often  there  are  twice  as  many;  this  voting-paper  measures  about  18 
inches  by  21,  not  including  the  margins,  and  contains  148  names. 


THE    STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  335 

Perplexed  by  the  jumble  of  names  and  columns  on  the 
list,  the  elector  is  only  too  glad  to  get  out  of  the  maze  as 
quickly  as  possible  by  putting  a  cross  above  one  of  the 
first  columns.  He  need  not  even  know  how  to  read  the 
title  of  the  party,  the  law  allows  it  to  be  designated  by 
an  emblem  —  an  eagle,  a  cock,  a  star,  a  plough,  a  boat, 
etc. ;  all  he  has  to  do  is  to  put  his  cross  under  this  little 
picture.  In  many  States  no  candidate's  name  must  be 
mentioned  in  more  than  one  party  colunm,  i.e.  no  party  and  the 
candidate  may  be  endorsed  by  another  party,  with  the  prevention 

,1  11  .  11  ,  ccc      .         of  a  "split 

result  that  the  elector  is  not  allowed  to  vote  a     fusion  ticket." 
ticket."    Thus  everything  is  combined    to  make  the 
elector  vote  a  ''straight  ticket." 

The  system  of  the  alphabetical  arrangement  under  the 
title  of  the  offices  is  certainly  more  favourable  to  the 
voting  of  a ''  split  ticket,"  but  in  many  States  in  which 
that  system  obtained  the  politicians  managed  to  have 
it  replaced  by  the  party  column  system,  aggravated  by 
the  above-mentioned  devices.  When  everything  is 
said,  the  Australian  Ballot,  far  from  having  destroyed 
the  electoral  monopoly  of  the  Machinp,  hi\R  only  rnn- 
solidated  ftT 


This  singular  result  was  due  not  only  to  the  perverse  Short- 
ingenuity  of  the  politicians,  but  also  to  the  simple-mind-  sightedness 
edness  of  the  reformers.      The  latter  diagnosed  the  formers, 
complaint  in  a  somewhat  rough-and-r,eady  fashion,  by 
dwelling  on  the  external   symptoms.     The  monopoly 
of  the  material  organization  of  the  elections  which  the 
Machine  had  assumed  was  not  the  cause,  but  the  con- 
sequence, the  accompaniment,  of  the  moral  electoral 
monopoly  which  it  had  acquired,  of  the  power  over  men's 
minds  which  it  had  usurped  under  the  mask  of  party 


336 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


y 


Regulation 
of  the 
primaries 
by  law, 


orthodoxy.  The  remedy  prescribed  for  the  disease 
presented  a  flagrant  logical  contradiction:  to  allow 
full  scope  to  the  independent  candidatures  and  to  the 
free  expression  of  the  suffrage  they  were  submitted  to  a 
set  of  restrictive  regulations;  to  stopjlip  n<;i]|-patmn  of 
the  political  parties  legal  recognition  was  obligingly  con- 
ceded to  them. 

J '5 5.  However,  the  American  legislature  went  still 
ther.  Since  the  State  conferred  the  status  of  candi- 
date on  the  persons  chosen  in  the  party  primaries  and 
conventions,  was  it  not  its  duty  to  make  sure  that  they 
were  duly  chosen  and  to  subject  for  that  purpose  the  pro- 
cedure of  the  primaries  and  conventions  to  its  super- 
visionT^ 

It  had  long  been  tempted  to  do  so,  and  it  had  already 
taken  several  steps  in  this  direction  before  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Australian  Ballot.  The  abuses  and  the 
scandals  prevailing  in  the  primaries  and  the  conven- 
tions suggested  the  idea  that  the  State,  which  surrounds 
the  elections  with  so  many  precautions  to  ensure  the  free 
and  truthful  expression  of  the  will  of  the  electors,  should 
grant  the  same  protection  to  the  voter  in  the  prelimi- 
nary, but  not  less  important,  stage  of  nominations  to 
elective  offices.  After  the  war,  when  the  abuses  of  the 
caucus  grew  intolerable,  the  legalization  of  the  primaries 
came  definitively  before  the  public.  It  was  discussed  in 
the  Press;  prizes  were  offered  for  the  best  practical  solu? 
tion ;  it  was  brought  before  the  legislative  assemblies.  But 
the  legislature  was  at  first  somewhat  slow  in  complying 
with  the  appeals  addressed  to  it.  To  begin  with,  the  politi- 
cians, who  were  by  no  means  anxious  to  be  placed  under 
supervision,  stifled  the  attempts  at  legislation.     Again, 


THE    STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  337 

there  arose  the  grave  question  of  principle,  whether  the 
State  had  the  right  to  regulate  the  sayings  and  doings  of 
private  individuals,  forming  free  associations  and  assem- 
bling in  more  or  less  private  meetings  to  perform  acts 
which  have  no  legal  force,  however  great  their  political 
import  may  be.  The  legislature,  therefore,  simply  offered 
the  protection  of  the  State  to  the  party  associations.  ,  [Thej 
first  laws  on  the  subject,  passed  in  1866  in  the  State  of 
California,  and  later  in  a  few  other  States,  while  enact- 
ing copious  provisions  for  ensuring  regularity  and  hon- 
esty in  the  proceedings  of  the  primaries  or  caucuses,  at  first 
left  it  to  the  party  committees  to  decide  whether  their  optional,  k 
primaries  should  be  held  in  accordance  with  the  rules 
laid  down  by  law.  The  practical  effect  of  those  op- 
tional statutes  was  m'D  The  party  organizations,  hav- 
ing the  option  of  sadming  themselves  with  the  restric- 
tions which  they  entailed,  abstained  from  doing  so. 
The  failure  of  this  legislation,  coupled  with  the  scandals  then  com- 
which  went  on  uninterruptedly  in  political  life,  drove  P^^^ory. 
a  section  of  opinion  into  demanding  more  decisive 
intervention  on  the  part  of  the  State.  The  ever- 
increasing  agitation  in  this  direction  has,  in  the  course  of 
the  last  thirty  years,  forced  the  legislatures  of  most  of 
the  States  to  adopt  measures  dealing  with  the  primaries 
that  were  no  longer  optional,  but  compulsory. 

156.   In  complying  with  the  demands  of  public  opin-  Varied 
ion,  the  legislature  proceeded  step  by  step,  conceding  extent  of 
to  it  on  each  successive  occasion  more  and  more  rigorous  tjo^^^^"  ^' 
and  comprehensive  measures,  and  extending  them,  in  a 
few  States,  gradually  from  the  principal  cities  to  larger- 
areas.     Some  States,  while  still  leaving  the  procedure  of 
the  caucus  to  the  good-will  and  pleasure  of  the  organi- 


338  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

zations,  penalized  the  acts  of  fraud  and  corruption  com* 
mitted  at  the  primaries.  Other  States,  and  these  the 
majority,  went  still  further.  They  punish  both  acts  of 
fraud  and  of  bribery,  and  lay  down  more  or  less  strict 
rules,  of  a  mandatory  character,  for  the  procedure  of  the 
primaries,  prescribing  how  and  at  what  time  the  requisi- 
tion convening  the  primaries  is  to  be  issued  so  as  to  en- 
sure its  being  properly  advertised,  how  the  meeting  is  to 
be  conducted,  how  the  right  of  individuals  to  take  part 
in  a  primary  is  to  be  ascertained,  how  the  votes  are  to  be 
received  and  counted.  Some  of  these  regulations  are 
compulsory  only  in  a  few  great  cities  and  are  optional  in 
the  other  parts  of  the  State,  while  in  other  States  the  law 
applies  to  the  entire  State.  The  provisions  enacted  in 
some  States  are  scanty  and  of  a  general  description, 
while  in  several  others  the  rules  are  plentiful  and  go  into 
great  detail ;  their  object  is  to  leave  the  party  organiza- 
tions, and  sometimes  even  the  electors,  as  little  discretion 
as  possible. 

By  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  most  of  the 
large  cities,  with  New  York  and  Chicago  at  their  head, 
were  under  the  mandatory  regulation  of  the  primary 
laws,  and  the  party  was  taken  into  the  official  machin- 
ery. The  South  with  few  exceptions  remained  free 
from  that  regulation,  but  the  same  end  was  achieved  by 
party  rules.  North  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  the 
system  continually  spread  and  developed,  bringing  the 
primaries  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  system  obtaining  in 
elections.  Gradually  the  expense  of  party  primaries  was 
devolved  on  the  public  treasury,  the  qualifications  of  the 
party  voters  were  determined,  a  registration  of  party 
voters  was  established,  and  lastly  the  election  of  party  offi- 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION  339 

cials,  of  party  committees,  was  regulated  by  the  law.  In 
the  States  provided  with  stringent  regulations  the  public 
authority  almost  completely  steps  into  the  shoes  of  the 
parties,  as  regards  the  conduct  of  the  primaries,  and  be- 
comes, in  a  way,  a  party  manager,  while  the  old  char- 
acter of  the  primaries,  as  deliberative  assemblies  of  the 
party,  is  officially  obliterated;  it  is  one  election  the  more 
added  to  those  which  existed  under  the  Constitution. 

157.  The  experience  has  not  altogether  fulfilled  the  Howsuc- 
hopes  which  were  entertained  of  these  laws.  The  good  ^^^^  * 
citizens  were  expected  henceforth  to  exhibit  a  greater 
interest  in  the  primaries  now  that  they  were  protected 
by  law,  and  that  each  citizen  could  be  sure  that  his 
voice  would  not  be  drowned  in  these  meetings,  that 
his  vote  would  not  be  made  away  with,  etc.  In  reality 
nothing  of  the  kind  occurred;  with  a  few  variations  the 
primaries  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  politicians. 
The  abuses  which  tainted  the  procedure  of  the  primaries 
have  been  remedied  in  a  very  moderate  degree  only. 
For,  however  minute  the  regulations  laid  down  by  the 
law  may  be,  the  observance  of  them  alwaysulependson 
the  party  rnipmittpp^^  ^pc^  the  election  "judges'^  or 
"inspectors"  who  are  appointed  or  suggested  by  these 
committees.  '  — 

Besides,  and  this  is  a  crucial  point,  the  rules  embodied  The  diffi- 
in  the  laws  referred   to  provide   no  real  solution  for  ^^^^y.^^ 

, .     .  .  .  who  IS  en- 

the  preliminary  question  on  which   the  character  of  titled  to 
the  primaries,  as  meetings  really  representative  of  the  ^o^^- 
party,  depends — namely,  who  is  entitled  to  vote  in  the 
primaries.     Most  of  the  laws  referred  to  have  been 
obliged  to  leave,  either  expressly  or  by  implication,  to 
the  party  committees  the  determination  of  the  qualifi- 


340  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

cations  required ;  that  is  to  say,  to  let  this  great  instru- 
ment of  oppression  remain  in  their  hands.  In  many 
States  a  definite  test  for  participation  in  primaries  has 
been  attempted :  the  voter  must  swear  that  he  did  not 
vote  against  the  party's  regular  candidates  at  the  last 
election,  or  that  he  did  vote  for  them  and  intends  to 
support  the  nominees  of  the  convention  (not  yet  chosen  !) 
at  the  ensuing  election,  or  that  he  is  in  general  sym- 
pathy with  the  principles  of  the  party  and  that  it  is  his 
intention  to  support  generally  at  the  next  election  the 
nominees  of  the  party  for  State  and  national  offices. 
These  tests,  far  from  guaranteeing  the  rights  of  the 
elector,  constitute  an  infringement  of  his  political 
liberty :  they  not  only  ask  him  to  disclose  how  he  has 
voted  at  the  last  election,  but  prevent  him  from  co- 
operating with  the  party  of  his  choice,  if  he  has  changed 
his  opinions  since  that  election.  No  great  improve- 
ment upon  such  enactments  are  those  which  content 
themselves  with  requiring  the  voter  to  be  "in  sym- 
pathy with  the  aims  and  objects  of  the  party"  or  to 
declare  himself  "in  good  faith"  a  member  of  the  party. 
The  sanction  of  the  oath  applied  to  intentions  and  feel- 
ings, even  if  it  were  justified  in  law  and  in  politics, 
cannot  be  effective.  The  law  has  not  been  ab|e,  and 
never  will  be  able,  to  prevent  with  certainty  the  undue 
exclusion  or  admission  of  citizens  into  the  counsels  of 
the  party,  for  the  peremptory  reason  that  party  mem- 
bership, like  Church  membership,  does  not  admit  of 
regulation  by  an  outside  authority.  This  membership 
is,  by  its  very  nature,  based  solely  on  the  conformity  of 
feelings  existing  between  the  member  and  the  body. 
158.   The  legislation  protecting  the  primaries,  with 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION  34 1 

all  its  minute  precautions,  could  not,   of  course,  be  inability 
more  successful  in  puttinsr  an  end  to  the  intrisrues  and  to  grapple 

,  .  ,  1       ,  .       ,  .  .         with  the 

manoeuvres  which  get  ready  the  vote  m  the  primaries,  "slate," 
The  "slate,"  which  is  made  up  behind  the  scenes,  and 
which  predetermines  the  result  of  the  primaries  to  such 
a  large  extent,  is  inevitably  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
legislature.  The  law  has  been  able  to  lay  hand  only  on 
the  outside  apparatus  of  the  primaries,  and  it  can  only 
effectively  protect  the  externals,  the  publicity  and  the 
good  order  of  their  meetings  and  of  the  vote-taking, 
and,  at  most,  it  can  also  protect  the  honesty  of  the  vote 
against  corruption,  so  far  as  that  is  possible  by  law. 
In  short,  the  law  has  only  been  able  to  apply  to  the 
primaries  the  police  supervision,  which  is  the  sum 
total  of  the  State's  power  over  members  of  organiza- 
tions, whether  of  a  religious,  political,  or  any  other 
kind.  Even  from  this  point  of  view  the  results  ob- 
tained have  not  been  of  great  importance.  The  frauds  with  the 
committed  in  the  primaries  usually  remain  unpunished,  ^''^^^s. 
in  spite  of  the  law,  which  is  not  sufficiently  supported 
by  public  opinion.  The  latter's  wrath,  if  aroused  by 
the  misdeeds  in  the  primaries,  is  never  of  long 
duration. 

It  was  mentioned  in  one  of  the  early  chapters  that  Regulation 
the  regulation  of  the  primaries  had  been  extended  to  °/  conven- 
the  conventions.  To  prevent  arbitrary  proceedings  in 
these  assemblies  the  law  has,  in  some  dozen  States, 
prescribed  provisions  regarding  the  date  of  the  conven- 
tions, the  call  of  the  convention  to  order,  the  election  of 
the  officers  by  roll  call,  the  nomination  of  the  candidates 
in  the  same  way  or  by  secret  ballot.  In  a  few  States 
the  law  tried  to  control  even  the  vote  of  the  delegates. 


342 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Movement 
/       for  direct 
nomina- 
tions. 


requiring  them  to  vote  for  the  candidates  named  as 
such  in  the  primaries.  The  instructions,  which  the 
delegates  sometimes  receive  from  the  primaries,  have 
been  made  a  legal  obligation.  That  was  a  step  towards 
the  legal  attribution  of  the  nominating  power  to  the 
people  themselves. 

159.  Towards  this  ultimate  goal  an  immense  agita- 
tion rapidly  set  in  all  over  the  country.  Just  as  once 
the  democratic  passions  of  the  people  were  roused 
against  the  Congressional  caucus,  so  now  they  were 
turned  against  the  convention  system.  All  the  evils  of 
the  political  regime  were  declared  to  proceed  from  the 
convention,  which  had  come  between  the  people  and 
its  representatives.  It  was  of  no  avail  to  purify  the 
primaries,  to  protect  by  law  their  proceedings  so  long 
as  they  led  only  to  a  convention,  inevitably  manipulated 
by  bosses  and  rings  of  professional  politicians,  irre- 
mediably permeated  by  intrigue  and  corruption.  Away 
therefore  with  the  delegates,  who  can  never  be  trusted, 
and  back  to  the  people !  The  American  government 
being  a  government  by  party,  party  government  must 
be  made  responsible  to  the  people.  The  control  of 
the  nominating  machinery  of  the  parties,  usurped  by 
bosses  and  corporations,  must  be  restored  to  the 
people,  with  the  help  of  the  strong  arm  of  the  State, 
by  conferring  on  the  people  assembled  in  party  meet- 
ings the  nominations  for  all  elective  offices  and  the' 
choice  of  party  officers  according  to  the  regulations  of 
the  law. 

The  scheme  of  direct  nominations,  apart  from  legal 
regulation,  was  not  a  new  one.  It  was  started  about 
forty  years  ago  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the  county  of  Craw- 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  343 

ford,  whence  it  got  its  name  of  Crawford  county 
system.  It  was  used  for  a  time  somewhere  in  the  West, 
but  it  was  especially  in  the  Southern  States  that  it 
found  a  lasting  abode.  The  direct  nominations  have 
been  extensively  applied  in  the  South  not  only  to  small 
areas  but,  as  in  South  Carolina,  to  the  choice  of  candi- 
dates for  the  whole  State.  The  working  of  the  system 
had  established  a  moderately  successful  record,  when  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century  the  movement  against 
the  Machine  and  for  wider  democracy  grasped  at  direct 
nominations  as  a  universal  cure  for  political  evils. 
The  stimulus  given  to  the  public  mind  by  the  exposures 
and  the  moral  upheaval  referred  to  manifested  itself 
with  a  particular  force  in  the  agitation  for  direct  and 
legal  primaries.  This  reform  would  at  last  allow  the 
people  to  express  its  will;  the  individual  voter  would 
get  a  direct  voice  in  party  affairs  and,  conscious  of  his 
new  opportunities,  would  no  longer  keep  aloof.  Can- 
didates would  look  for  and  get  their  nomination  from 
the  people  and  not  from  the  bosses;  so  the  latter 
would  get  out  of  business.  Any  candidate,  without 
asking  permission  of  the  Machine,  might  solicit  the 
popular  choice,  and  men  of  independent  mind  would 
then  come  forward.  The  elective  officers  would  be- 
come more  independent  of  those  who  could  control 
their  action  for  their  selfish  advantages.  While  aimed 
at  the  Machines,  the  direct  nominations  would  not 
destroy  the  party  system.  On  the  contrary  they  would 
strengthen  and  purify  party. 

160.  The  bosses  vociferously  denounced  the  reform.  Legal 
But  there  were  and  still  are  many  very  serious  objec-  ^|^^^ 
tions  from  quarters  which  have  nothing  in  common  with 


pnmanes. 


344 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Procedure 
in  direct 
primaries. 


the  Machines.  The  popular  hatred  of  bosses  proved 
stronger,  and  in  a  very  few  years  the  direct  nominations 
reform,  beginning  with  Minnesota  in  1901,  conquered 
the  States  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  of  the  Pacific 
coast  and  lastly  a  few  States  in  the  East.  Of  long 
standing  in  the  Southern  States,  direct  nominations 
are  still  determined  there  by  party  rules,  i.e.  are  volun- 
tary, while  elsewhere  they  are  established  by  legal 
enactments.  These  latter,  at  first  optional,  in  many 
cases,  like  the  laws  regulating  the  primaries  under  the 
convention  system,  very  soon  assumed  mandatory 
form.  The  areas  and  the  offices  to  which  they  apply 
vary  greatly.  As  I  have  mentioned  in  the  sixth  chapter, 
the  choice  of  presidential  electors  and  delegates  to  the 

I  National  Conventions  is  generally  excepted  from  the 
direct  primaries.  Many  offices  less  important,  many 
local  and  school  offices,  are  frequently  also  ex- 
cepted. On  the  other  hand  the  direct  primaries  have 
been  invested  with  the  selection  of  candidates  for 
offices  which,  according  to  the  Constitution,  are  not 
in  the  gift  of  the  people,  viz.  the  United  States  Senators, 
who  are  appointed  by  the  State  legislatures.  In  some 
sixteen  States  the  law  has  introduced  the  direct  nomi- 
nation  of  Senators  bv  means_of  a  party  p1ebi.scite_^ken 

_at  the-primari^:  the  name  of  the  candidate  receiving 
the  highest  number  of  popular  votes  is  brought  to  the 
notice  of  the  legislature,  which  is  thus  urged  to  vote 
for  the  people's  choice.  Sometimes  the  legislature 
obeys;   sometimes  not. 

The  voting  in  the  direct  primaries  is  fixed  almost 
on  the  saine  lines  as^for  electimis.  Official  ballots  only 
are  used.     The  candidates  voted  for  are  generally  put 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION  345 

on  the  ballot  by  petitions  of  a  certain  percentage  of 
party  voters.  The  qualifications  of  the  voters  are 
determined  as  in  the  first  legal  enactments  of  the  ante- 
direct  primaries  period.  In  some  States  a  formal 
declaration  of  party  allegiance  is  accepted,  or  a  test  of 
party  standing  for  the  last  preceding  period  is  required; 
in  others  a  preliminary  enrolment  of  party  members  is 
necessary  like  the  registration  of  electors.  In  the  last 
case  only  the  enrolled  members  of  the  party  are  ad- 
mitted to  the  primaries,  called  therefore  "closed  pri- 
maries." In  other  States  members  of  all  parties  are 
jointly  admitted  to  the  primaries,  where  they  are  givei^, 
as  at  elections,  a  blanket-ballot  with  party-columns,' 
which  they  mark  in  secret,  or  separate  ballots  of  the 
several  parties  to  make  a  choice  between  them,  or 
again  they  have  to  declare  openly  which  party  ballot 
they  desire  to  vote  for.  All  these  primaries  of  mem- 
bers of  all  parties  are  called  "open  primaries."  In 
any  case  the  voter  must  vote  a  straight  ticket,  with 
secrecy  of  his  vote  secured  under  one  method  and 
denied  under  the  other  method.  The  voting  of  a 
split  ticket  is  entirely  out  of  the  question. 

Usually  a  simple  plurality  is  required  for  being 
nominated,  so  that  the  choice  of  a  minority  of  the 
party  may  get  in.  To  prevent  it,  the  law  of  one  State 
(Washington)  provides  that  the  voter  may  indicate  in 
his  ballot  along  with  his  first  choice  for  the  office  a 
second  choice,  and  that  the  candidate  who  has  got  a 
majority  from  the  combined  votes  of  first  choice  and 
of  second  choice  will  be  the  nominee. 

161.  The  experience  of  this  system  has  not  been 
long,  still  its  tendencies  are  already  manifesting  them- 


346  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

Tendencies    selves.     Neither  the  sanguine  hopes  of  the  reformers 

of  the  n 
system. 


o      e  new     ^^^  ^j^^  fears  of  the  bosses  have  been  entirely  justified* 


^^The  participation  of  voters  in  the  primaries  has  de- 
cidedly increased,  but  on  the  v^^hole  their  indifference 
is  still  exceedingly  great.  Frauds  are  not  prevented  by 
the  new  system.  Many  bad  candidates  are  defeated  who 
would  be  nominated  in  convention,  but  the  haphaz- 
ard vote  of  the  multitude  rejects  good  men  against 
whom  a  convention  would  not  dare  to  come  out.  Th^ 
voter  having  to  rely  on  himself  under  the  new  system 
naturally  cannot  make  his  mind  up  as  to  the  qualifi- 
cations of  the  several  candidates.  There  is  therefore  a 
good  deal  of^  haphazard  voting.  In  many  places  pre- 
primary  caucuses  have  already  sprung  up  to  control 
the  voters  in  the  primaries.  As  a  rule  the  Machine 
.  still  makes  up  Jhe  slate^  But  there  is  one  chance  more 
than  before  for  breaking  it;  the  voter  need  not  wait 
till  election  and  bolt  the  ticket.  There  is  much  more- 
publicity  about  the  candidates.  When  there  is  an  im- 
portant issue  and  public  opinion  is  roused,  the  elec- 
torate has  greater  facilities  to  express  and  to  assert  its 
will,  but  when  there  is  no  excitement  the  Machine 
pulls  the  wires  as  before,  with  this  difference,  that  it  can 
no  longer  be  taken  to  task  for  bad  nominations,  —  the 
people  are  supposed  to  have  made  them.^  The  necessity 
of  applying  for  nomination  to  the  people,  in  every 
corner  of  the  district  or  even  of  the  State,  requires  from 
the  candidate  an  immense  amount  of  campaigning. 
That  stirs  up  a  good  deal  of  bitter  feeling  within  the 
party  and  is  fraught  with  heavy  expense.  ^-It  is  no 
longer  necessary  to  buy  the  delegates,  but  there  is  much 
more  to  be  spent  on  other  objects,  on  hiring  workers, 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  347 

on  "buying  space"  in  the  papers,  etc.  The  poor  man 
stands  little  chance,  if  any.  On  the  other  hand  the 
candidate  must  now  face  the  people,  come  out  in  the 
open  and  enlighten  the  electorate  upon  his  views  oi| 
the  issues  of  the  hour,  with  the  result  that  the  cam- 
paign acquires  an  educational  value.  However,  the 
sincere  expression  of  the  people's  will  is  not  always 
secured  in  the  party  primaries:  not  unfrequently 
Democrats  take  part  in  nominating  Republican  candi- 
dates and  vice  versa^  in  order  to  shuffle  the  cards  of 
their  opponents,  to  have  a  rival  candidate  nominated 
who  will  court  defeat;  or  the  worst  elements  of  both 
parties  sincerely  join  hands  to  get  in  a  Machine  rascal. 
And  there  is  no  means  to  prevent  it  except  by  holding 
"closed  primaries"  and  admitting  to  them  only  mem- 
bers of  the  party  registered  as  such  a  good  time  in 
advance.  Even  that  gives  no  security,  as  experience 
has  shown.  In  any  case  the  safeguard  of  the  secrecy 
of  the  vote  is  done  away  with,  while  on  the  other  hand 
honest  men  who  wear  no  party  collar  or  who  have 
conscientiously  changed  recently  their  party  affiliation, 
all  these  citizens,  who  are  the  salt  of  the  electorate,  are 
debarred  from  the  selection  of  candidates,  only  to  leave^^ 
the  field  to  the  party  bigots  and  to  the  party  sharpers. 
These  unsatisfactory  results  of  the  "direct  pri- 
maries "  cannot  be  considered  as  accidental.  Confronted 
with  the  old  system  of  parties  and  the  new  centrifugal 
tendencies  of  independence,  the  reform  endeavoured  to 
uphold  both  —  a  contention  which  implied  a  contradic- 
tion in  terms.  To  achieve  its  object,  the  reform  invoked 
the  coercive  force  of  the  law,  requiring  it  to  do  what  is 
not  in  its  power  to  do.     To  give  legal  protection  to  the 


348 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Scheme  of 
"free  nomi- 
nations." 


several  parties,  first  of  all  a  legal  test  of  party  member- 
ship is  necessary.  But  from  the  very  nature  of  party 
allegiance  no  such  test,  no  workable  one,  can  be  fixed 
by  law,  as  has  been  shown  from  the  very  begin- 
ning, when  the  State  started  to  regulate  the  primaries 
under  the  convention  system.  Again  to  secure  for  the 
individual  voter  the  free  expression  of  his  will,  the  re- 
form caused  the  law  to  deprive  him  of  the  safeguard  of 
the  secret  ballot  and  to  rivet  him  to  the  straight  ticket. 

Still  the  direct  nominations,  even  loaded  with  the 
incongruities  of  the  legal  regulation  of  parties,  are 
likely  to  do  service  in  the  fight  against  the  Machine. 
Not  only  is  the  agitation  connected  with  that  reform  and 
imbued  with  a  craving  for  righteousness  helpful  in 
purifying  the  political  atmosphere,  but  the  weapon 
forged  may  in  some  cases,  when  there  is  a  strong 
determination  to  use  it,  be  handled  with  success. 

162.  Of  a  much  sounder  conception  is  the  plan  of 
*'free  nominations,"  which  aims  not  only  at  eliminat- 
ing the  conventions,  but  at  dispensing  with  the  party 
primaries  themselves.  According  to  this  scheme  all 
the  candidates  should  be  nominated  directly  "by 
petitions"  without  any  reference  to  parties.  Any 
group  of  citizens  would  put  forward  its  candidate  on 
equal  terms  with  any  other,  and  the  candidate  would 
rely  only  on  his  merit  and  on  the  support  of  the  citizens 
who  had  given  him  their  signatures.  This  method 
has  been  used  with  great  effect  in  the  famous  mayoralty 
campaign  of  1897,  i^  ■'^^^^  York,  for  nominating  Mr. 
Seth  Low.  Since  then  the  law  has  sanctioned  such  a  sys- 
tem of  nominations  in  a  few  Western  States  for  school 
officers  or  city  officers.    I  have  characterized  this  scheme 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION  349 

as  a  sounder  one  than  the  "direct  primaries,"  because 
it  is  more  alive  to  the  actual  conditions,  which  are  no 
longer  identified  with  stereotyped  party  divisions  and 
are  marked  by  a  continuous  growth  of  independence. 
The  problem  of  the  hour  is  how  to  smooth  the  evolu- 
tion from  the  old  system  which,  even  if  doomed,  can- 
not be  ended  by  fiat,  to  the  new  tendencies  which  are 
imperiously  breaking  through.  Parties,  provided  with 
a  good  organization,  might  adapt  themselves  easily  to 
the  new  method,  while  independents  will  get  from  it 
all  facilities  for  asserting,  for  developing  themselves, 
and  will  be  placed,  not  in  theory  only,  on  a  footing  of 
equality. 

A  most  important  step  towards  the  legal  regulation 
of   nominations    on    a   non-partisan    basis    has    been 
recently  taken  in  Iowa  and  in  Massachusetts  by  estab- 
lishing in  certain  municipalities,  for  city  elections,  non-  Non-         u^ 
partisan  primaries,  to  which  all  voters  are  convened  to  P^f^^^^l^ 

^  ^  primaries. 

select  candidates  without  distinction  of  party.  The  two 
candidates  for  office  who  have  received  the  highest 
number  of  votes  at  the  primary  are  declared  candidates 
to  be  voted  for  at  the  final  election,  and  no  other 
candidates  are  admitted.  Here  again  candidates  of 
organized  parties  are  not  excluded,  while  the  electorate 
is  allowed  to  make  a  free  and  an  intelligent  selection.^ 

^  In  1909  the  State  of  Nebraska  enacted  a  law  providing  for  the 
non-partisan  nomination  (and  election)  of  judges  and  superintend- 
ents of  public  instruction.  Candidates  for  these  offices  are  to  be 
nominated  by  petition  only  and  voted  for  on  an  "  official  non-parr 
tisan  ballot,"  without  any  party  name  or  designation  to  be  given  to 
any  candidate. 

A  still  more  important  legislative  event  is  announced  (Nov.  1909): 
The  people  of  Boston  have  adopted  the  revised  city  charter  which  pro- 
vides among  other  things  for  the  abolition  of  party  nominations  and  of 


350 


DEMOCRACY    AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


"Direct 
legislation  " 
movement. 


The  writer  has  advocated  reform  on  similar  lines  ^  and 
he  will  develop  his  plan  with  greater  detail  in  the  con- 
cluding chapter  of  this  book. 

The  old  convention  system  has  still  defenders  among 
the  reformers  themselves.  Many  of  them  cannot  see 
how  the  multitude  thrown  upon  itself  can  make  sensi- 
ble nominations.  Not  despairing  of  conventions,  they 
would  improve  them  by  several  devices,  such  as  legal 
regulation,  representation  of  minorities,  subdivision  of 
the  electoral  areas  for  the  selection  of  delegates  into 
small  units  permitting  of  neighbourly  meetings  of  the 
electors. 

163.  The  discontent  with  the  representative  system 
in  the  party  Organization  has  spread  very  rapidly  to 
the  representative  system  of  government  in  general. 
The  notion  has  got  abroad  that  representative  govern- 
ment has  proved  a  failure.  The  cure  of  more  democ- 
racy applied  only  to  the  nominating  system  appeared 
to  many  to  be  inadequate.  The  power  must  be  re- 
stored to  the  people  in  the  domain  of  legislation.  The 
best,  in  fact  the  only  remedy  against  the  evils  of  the 
party  system  and  political  corruption  will  be  found  in 
** direct  legislation"  by  means  of  the  Referendum  and 
the  Initiative  as  in  Switzerland.  This  reform,  advo- 
cated by  only  a  few  till  the  last  decade,  has  since  become 
very  popular  and  is  making  progress  not  only  in  pub- 
nominating  caucuses  or  primaries  for  municipal  offices.  Candidates 
are  presented  by  petitions  signed  by  at  least  five  thousand  registered 
voters  not  for  the  sake  of  nomination  but  directly  for  the  election, 
and  [their  names  are  printed  on  the  official  ballot  without  any  party 
designation  or  mark. 

1  See  his  work  Democracy  and  the  Organization  of  Political  Parties^ 
1902.     Vol.  II,  pp.  614,  691-694. 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  351 

lie  discussion  but  in  legislation.  Apart  from  the  old 
constitutional  principle  which  required  that  the  new 
constitutions  or  the  constitutional  amendments  should 
be  submitted  to  the  people,  the  Referendum  has  been 
already  established  in  many  States,  chiefly  with  regard 
to  local  matters  in  cities  or  parts  of  the  State.  Within 
recent  years  the  Referendum  in  municipal  matters  has 
spread  to  about  twenty  States;  and  at  last,  in  some 
four  or  five  Western  States  and  one  New  England 
State,  it  has  been  extended  to  statutory  law,  so  that, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  any  law  voted  by  the  legislature 
may  be  referred  to  the  people.  The  Referendum  goes 
in  those  States  together  with  the  Initiative.  In  some 
States,  like  Oregon,  they  have  been  extensively  made  use 
of,  apparently  with  success,  while  in  others  the  people 
do  not  manifest  great  eagerness  or  much  intelligence 
in  voting  on  the  measures  submitted.  Whatever  may 
be  the  influence  of  the  Referendum  in  establishing 
political  purity,  it  would  certainly,  if  systematically 
used,  play  havoc  with  parties  and  party  organizations, 
as  the  popular  vote  displays  a  tendency  to  move  across 
party  lines. 

In  addition  to  the  Referendum  and  the  Initiative,  a 
third  measure  is  usually  advocated  by  the  champions 
of  control  by  the  people  —  the  recall  of  the  elective  Recall, 
officers  by  the  people  before  the  expiration  of  their 
term.  The  recall  has  been  adopted  in  a  number  of 
cities  in  the  West.  Upon  a  petition  of  a  specified  per- 
centage of  the  qualified  voters  the  seat  of  the  impugned 
official  is  vacated  and  a  new  election  is  ordered,  at 
which  he  may  be  again  a  candidate.  The  law  has 
already  been  successfully  tried  in  a  few  cases. 


352 


DEMOCRACY   AND    THE    PARTY   SYSTEM 


Popular  In  the  eyes  of  many  reformers  the  crucial  reform 

Senlrre^  for  the  purification  of  political  life  lies  in  the  election 
of  the  United  States  Senators  by  the  people.  This 
"  object  has  been  pursued  for  a  long  time  through  amend- 
ments to  the  Constitution  brought  before  Congress. 
But  the  United  States  Senate  has  always  rejected  them. 
Within  the  last  decade  an  indirect  way  has  been  at- 
tempted to  reach  the  same  goal.  State  laws  have 
been  enacted  establishing  a  popular  vote  on  United 
States  Senators,  the  result  of  which  should  be  accepted 
by  the  legislatures  as  a  mandate.  The  reader  is  al- 
ready aware  that  in  the  direct  primaries,  whether  estab- 
lished by  law  or  by  party  rules,  the  parties  usually 
nominate  United  States  Senators.  In  a  few  States  the 
people  vote  at  elections  on  the  official  ballot  for  United 
States  Senators,  just  as  they  vote  for  the  Governor. 
But  that  vote  is  as  void  of  legal  power  as  the  nomina- 
tion in  the  primaries :  it  is  not  legally  binding  on  the 
legislature. 
Regulation        Great  stress  has  been  laid  within  the  last  few  years 

of  campaign  pn  the  limitation  of  contribiition.sJ:o  campaign  funds, 

funds.  — 7~;  7     '     r~    ~  .  ,         ~      .  -     - 

which  supply  the  Machmes  with  a  very  large  part  of 

their  war-chest.  Mention  has  already  been  made  of 
the  laws  enacted  prohibiting  contributions  by  corpo- 
rations. Then  there  have  been  steps  taken^o  get 
tVip  legitimate  election  expenses  paid  from^the  public 
treasury.  The  numerous  recent  laws  against  corrupt 
practices  have  also  been  alluded  to. 
Schemes  1 64.   While    attempts    were    thus    being    made    to 

of  municipal  purify  the  springs  of  political  life  by  legislative  reforms, 
other  efforts  were  brought  to  bear  directly  on  some  of 
the  departments  of  public  life  which  were  most  corrupt. 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  353 

The  crying  abuses  in  the  municipal  sphere  appeared 
to  call  strongly  for  special  legislative  remedies.  The 
first  thorough  investigation  of  the  question,  made  in 
1877  by  a  special  legislative  commission  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  reached  the  conclusion  that  manhood 
suffrage  was  the  source  of  the  evil,  that  a  municipality 
is  in  no  way  a  political  body,  but  a  business  organi-  Restriction 
zation  with  the  duty  of  administering  the  property  s^JL^^ 
of  the  community,  like  a  joint-stock  company  which 
runs  a  private  concern,,  and  that  consequently  the 
municipal  shareholders,  the  ratepayers  of  the  city, 
ought  alone  to  choose  its  administrators,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  those  citizens  who,  not  paying  any  municipal 
rates,  and  not  feeling  the  effects  of  extravagant  or  un- 
trustworthy management,  have  no  interest  in  electing 
honest  and  competent  administrators. 

This  proposed  solution  of  the  problem  was  not  a 
fortunate  one.      The  exclusion   of  the  poor  from  the 
franchise  in  municipal  matters,  which  affect  certainly 
the  interests  of   all  the    citizens    without    exception, 
was  not  only  unjust   but   missed   the  point:   the  in- 
capable or  dishonest  administrators   are  not  elected 
exclusively  by  the   votes  of  the  non-ratepayers;    the 
latter  only  make  up  the  total  of   the   parties   among 
which  the  *' better  element"  is  distributed.      It  is  the    -"j 
division  into  political  parties  in  the  sphere  of  munici-    / 
pal  affairs,  with  which  politics  has  no  concern,  that   / 
enables  the  bad  candidates  to  go  in  under  the  party   I 
flag.     If,    instead   of   fighting   one   another   like   the 
Blues    and    the    Greens  of  the  Roman  circus,  these 
''good"  citizens  united  to   demand  only   ability   and 
honesty  from  the  municipal    candidates,   those   who 

2A 


dictator 
plan. 


354  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

have  none  would  not  be  able  to  get  in.  In  any  case 
in  a  country  of  manhood  suffrage  the  restriction  of 
the  municipal  franchise  could  not  be  favourably  re- 
ceived. So  the  plan  fell  through. 
••  Municipal  1 65 .  Then,  despairing  under  existing  conditions  of  get- 
ting a  better  class  of  members  for  the  city  councils,  the 
reformers  tried  to  obviate  the  effects  of  their  mischievous 
activity  by  cutting  down  their  jurisdiction  and  their 
powers.  In  return,  the  powers  of  the_ma,YQI-,were 
enhanced  to  such  an  extent'as  to  make  him  deliberately 
aJ^jnunidpaLdictator'' :  he  was  in  no  way  accountable 
to  the  council,  he  could  appoint  and  dismiss  the  chief 
municipal  officers  at  his  pleasure,  he  exercised  a  right 
of  veto  over  the  decisions  of  the  council  in  the  extremely 
limited  sphere  of  authority  that  was  left  to  it.  Respon- 
sibility, when  divided  among  the  members  of  the  coun- 
cil, the  mayor,  and  numerous  committees  or  officials, 
had  been  practically  non-existent.  When  laid  on  the 
mayor,  chosen  directly  by  the  people,  it  would  become 
a  reality,  argued  the  reformers;  knowing  whom  to 
call  to  account  in  case  of  bad  government,  the  people 
could  strike  directly  at  the  culprit;  in  committing  su- 
preme power  into  the  hands  of  one  man,  the  people 
would  be  obliged  to  be  careful  in  the  choice  of  that  man, 
and  they  could  be  so  more  readily  than  when  they  had 
to  elect  a  more  or  less  numerous  assembly. 

This  system  of  municipal  organization,  inaugurated 
about  the  years  1 882-1 885  in  Brooklyn,  Boston,  and 
New  York,  was  soon  introduced  into  several  other 
cities.  It  was  received  with  marked  favour;  it  was 
supposed  to  provide  a  specific  against  municipal  dis- 
orders.   However,   the   ** municipal   dictator"   system 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR   EMANCIPATION  355 

was  far  from  yielding  the  desired  results.  Spmetimes 
it  brought  into  power  superior  meik  sometimes  poli- 
ticians  of  theworst  stamp ;  sometimes  it  started  a  sort 
of  municipal  revival,  at  other  times  it  perpetuated  the 
old  abuses.  The  basic  idea  of  the  system  was  stretched 
too  far.  Responsibility  and^bsolute  concentration  of 
powers  do  not  necessarily  go  hand  in  hand.  The  gov- 
ernment of  cities  by  mumcipal  councils  Knd  their  com- 
mittees is  in  no  way  unsound  in  itself;  the  example  of 
Europe  proves  exactly  the  contrary.  The  direct  re- 
sponsibility to  the  people  of  a  man  invested  by  them 
with  supreme  power  cannot  be  enforced  while  he  is  in 
power.  To  be  real  and  effective,  responsibility  must' 
be  continuous  and  unceasing ;  and  this  is  possible  only 
under  the  regime  of  representative  assemblies,  under 
the  system  of  control  which  they  ensure.  Since  the  city 
elections  were  fought  as  before  on  party  lines,  the 
remedy  of  the  autocratic  mayor  system  made  even 
worse  the  old  evil:  by  bestowing  power  on  a  single 
individual,  it  afforded  greater  facility  for  prostituting 
that  power  to  the  interests  of  the  party  whenever  the 
mayor  was  inclined  that  way,  and  party  organizations 
were  impelled  to  greater  activity  to  control  the  office 
which  carried  a  larger  booty.  Reducing  the  powers  of 
the  city  councils  to  a  cipher,  the  new  system  made  the 
electors  take  still  less  interest  in  the  composition  of 
these  assemblies,  and  tended  to  take  away  the  last 
vestige  of  responsibility  from  the  members  of  the  coun- 
cils, degraded  by  the  law  itself.  The  municipal  dictator 
system  offered  but  one  unquestionable  result,  a  very  ap- 
preciable one  in  the  eyes  of  so  many  American  citizens : 
it  saved  them  the  trouble  of  governing  themselves,  and 


356 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Further 
curtailment 
of  the 
powers  of 
the  city 
councils. 


Municipal 
"govern- 
ment by 
commis- 
sion." 


gave  them  the  illusion  of  having  found  an  effective 
mode  of  government  which  worked  of  itself. 

i66.  The  curtailment  of  the  powers  of  the  city  coun- 
cils gradually  extended  to  one  branch  after  another.  In 
several  cities  the  councils  were  shorn  not  only  of  their  ad- 
ministrative prerogatives,  but  they  were  limited  in  their 
so-called  legislative  ones  —  in  the  right  of  organizing 
the  administration,  of  making  regulations,  and  lastly  even 
their  budgetary  powers  were  abridged.  Again  in  several 
cities  certain  elective  offices  have  been  more  and  more 
changed  into  appointive  offices  filled  up  by  the  mayor 
or  by  the  heads  of  departments.  At  the  same  time  there 
has  been  developing  a  tendency  to  introduce  into  mu- 
nicipal government  a  system  of  administrative  control^ 
In  one  very  remarkable  case  a  still  more  radical  remedy 
has  been  applied:  in  the  city  of  Washington  elective 
government  has  been  completely  abolished.  After  the 
excesses  of  Boss  Shepherd's  regime,  Congress  —  which 
exercises  direct  powers  over  the  administration  of  the 
Federal  capital  made  into  a  neutral  district  —  did  away 
with  elective  government  and  put  in  its  place  three  com- 
missioners, to  be  appointed  by  itself. 

Evidently,  this  regime  could  not  be  introduced  else- 
where, in  the  States  which  are  self-governing.  How- 
ever, there  is  developing  in  the  latter  a  system  of 
municipal  government  which  comes  rather  near  to  the 
city  of  Washington  regime.  That  is  the  "government 
by  commission,"  which  dispenses  entirely  with  city 
councils  and  invests  with  full  powers,  legislative  and 
administrative,  a  few  commissioners.  But  these  com- 
missioners are  elected  by  the  city  at  large,  and  one 
of   them    is   the   mayor.    This  system,  which  origi- 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION  357 

nated  in  Galveston,  Texas,  is  becoming  quite  fash- 
ionable. It  is  expected  to  remedy  the  diffusion  of 
responsibility  which  afflicts  the  American  city  govern- 
ment and  to  secure  real  responsibility  and  efficiency  in 
the  administration.  The  system  is  spreading  in  the 
West,  combined  sometimes,  as  in  Iowa  (the  Des  Moines 
plan),  with  the  recently  introduced  forms  of  popular 
control :  the  ordinances  of  the  commissioners  may  be 
referred  to  the  people  for  its  veto ;  the  recall  may  be  de- 
manded against  a  commissioner;  all  franchises  are  sub- 
mitted to  the  vote  of  the  people.  Most  of  the  objections 
against  the  mayor  as  "municipal  dictator"  apply  to  the 
"government  by  commission,"  with  the  addition  of  a  few 
more,  such  as  regarding  the  danger^ofxon  centrating  in 
the  hands  of  the  commissioners  tha.pow€r  ofjyith  malfTl"^  • 
ing  ordinances  and  of  executing  them;  of  imposing  / 
taxes,  npprnprialjnp^  moneys  ai^jj^^P^^^'^g  them. 
^167.  The  Des  Moines  plan  provides  for  the~nomiria:=^  Separation 
tion  of  the  commissioners  in  non-partisan  primaries,  ^^°"^.  ^^^^ 
already  mentioned,  with  a  view  to  the  divorce  of  mu- 
nicipal government  from  party  politics.  For  the  same 
object,  which  has  for  long  preoccupied  many  reform- 
ers, enactments  have  been  secured  (in  New  York  even 
through  the  constitution)  providing  that  the  municipal 
elections  should  take  place  at  a  different  time  from  State 
and  Federal  elections.  It  was  hoped  that  the  elector, 
having  to  vote  for  none  but  municipal  candidates,  would 
choose  them  with  perfect  freedom,  heeding  only  the 
interests  of  the  city  and  with  no  fear  of  endangering  the 
interests  of  the  party  in  Congress  or  at  the  presidential 
election,  which  would  not  be  at  stake  just  then.  This 
material  separation  of  the  municipal  elections  from  the 


3S8 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


General 
survey  of 
the  munici- 
pal reform 
movement. 


others  was  a  little  helpful,  though  the  average  party 
voter  continued  to  vote  the  party  ticket  thrust  upon  him 
by  the  Machine  as  before.  The  benefit  of  this  reform 
has  been,  however,  largely  annulled  by  the  direct  pri- 
maries legislation,  which  requires  all  the  candidates,  the 
candidates  at  city  elections  not  excepted,  to  be  nomi- 
nated on  party  tickets. 

The  various  reforms  essayed  in  municipal  organiza- 
tion have,  undoubtedly,  afforded  a  partial  or  tempo- 
rary alleviation  of  the  evil;  but,  taken  as  a  whole,  the 
municipal  problem  still  remains  unsolved.  The  re- 
formers expended  the  best  of  their  energy  in  recasting 
or  reconstructing  the  machinery  of  municipal  govern- 
ment; they  thought  the  evil  was  due  mainly  to  structu- 
ral imperfections,  —  while  the  real  crux  lay  in  the 
motive  power  of  the  machinery  and  in  the  methods 
by  which  it  was  set  in  motion,  in  the  enslavement  of 
the  municipal  voters  to  the  notion  of  party  '*  regu- 
larity," in  the  monopolizing  of  municipal  life  by 
the  political  parties  and  by  those  who  exploited 
these  latter.  The  legislative  reformers  were  not  en- 
tirely unmindful  of  this  aspect  of  the  case,  but  they 
attached  much  more  importance  to  the  machinery. 
Believing  in  the  efficacy  of  machinery,  they  expected  to 
obtain  the  maximum  of  effect  by  straining  it  to  the  utmost, 
and  they  indulged  in  conceptions  which  were  as  one-sided 
in  principle  as  they  were  summary  in  execution :  the 
mayor  had  not  sufficient  power  in  municipal  government, 
he  was  made  a  dictator ;  the  municipal  council  managed 
the  property  of  the  city  badly,  it  was  bound  hand  and 
foot  or  even  entirely  abolished.  The  public,  again, 
whose  attention  was  attracted  by  these  legislative  ex- 


THE    STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  359 

periments,  was  lulled  by  the  assurance  that  a  remedy 
had  been  discovered  and  the  evil  averted. 

168.   Besides  municipal  government,  legislative  re-  Measures 
form  grappled  with  the  disease  of  political  corruption  f^"?\^?  ^* 

o     i^i  ^  ^  legislatures. 

in  another  special  sphere  —  in  the  legislative  assemblies 
of  the  States,  sunk  to  the  last  depths  of  public  contempt, 
Their  improvement  being  considered  hopeless,  attempts 
were  made,  as  in  the  case  of  the  city  councils,  and  with 
even  more  method,  to  limit  their  powers,  to  leave  them 
as  few  opportunities  of  legislating  as  possible.  With 
this  object  the  reformers  tried  to  insert  in  the  constitu- 
tions —  which  the  ordinary  legislatures  have  not  the 
right  to  touch  —  as  many  general  provisions  as  possible, 
so  much  so  that  the  most  recent  constitutions,  made 
very  voluminous,  contain  many  clauses  which  do  not 
fall  within  the  scope  of  constitutional  law,  properly  so 
called,  at  all,  but  relate  to  private,  to  administrative  law. 
To  bring  legislation  into  harmony  with  the  changing 
requirements  of  life,  frequent  revisions  of  the  constitu- 
tion are  preferred  to  trusting  the  members  of  the  legis- 
latures. Among  the  decisions  which  must  be  left  to 
the  latter,  several  have  to  be  submitted,  under  the  new 
constitutions,  to  popular  approval,  to  the  electors  of  the 
State  or  of  the  part  of  the  State  concerned.  This  plan  is 
being  adopted,  to  an  increasing  extent,  in  the  case  of 
loans,  of  extensive  public  works,  etc.  The  recent  de- 
velopment of  the^,££fe£endum  and  the  Initiative  im- 
pairs still  more  the  power  of  the  legislatures.  Lastly, 
to  diminish  the  opportunities  of  the  State  legislatures 
for  mischievous  action,  attempts  have  been  made  to 
shorten  the  duration  of  their  labours  byAe  constitu- 
tional  limitation  of  the  term  of  thejeeisktiye  sessions; 


360  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

and  especially  by  the  introduction,  already  carried  out  in 
most  of  the  States,  of  biennial  sessions. 

169.  In  addition  to  the  schemes  reviewed,  to  which 
the  legislature  has  given  recognition  in  a  larger  or  a 
smaller  degree,  a  great  number  of  other  plans  have  been 
put  forward  for  purifying  public  life  and  for, destroying 
the  Machine.  If  the  caucus  and  the  Machine  are  still 
standing,  the  fault  is  assuredly  not  due  to  any  lack  of  in- 
genuity on  the  part  of  the  would-be  reformers.  I  can 
only  refer  briefly  here  to  the  more  important  of  these 
proposals. 
Plans  of  Several  publicists  devoted  all  their  attention  to  the 

reform  of       improvement  of  the  system  of  elections,  apart  from  the 

the  electoral     .  ,.         ^^    ,1  *  i- 

system.  Australian  Ballot  movement.     Accordmg  to  them,  it 

was  the  imperfection  of  the  electoral  system  which  had 
given  rise  to  the  caucus  with  all  its  attendant  evils. 
Without  local  organization  enabling  the  citizens  to  de- 
liberate, the  vote  is  only  a  delusion  and  a  snare,  and  the 
citizen,  even  if  he  have  a  hundred  votes,  will  be  only  a 
dummy.  The  Germanic  folkmoot,  the  Saxon  hun- 
dred, the  town-meeting  of  New  England,  provided  this 
organization.  We  must  go  back  to  them,  said  these 
reformers,  by  basing  the  electoral  system  on  districts 
of  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  electors,  who  can 
come  together  without  difficulty.  These  small  con- 
stituencies will  choose  the  members  of  all  the  legislative 
assemblies  by  means  of  elections  at  several  degrees. 
The  elective  method  will  be  reduced  to  a  minimum; 
there  will  be  no  more  periodical  elections;  the  term  of 
office  will  no  longer  be  limited;  the  members  of  the 
assemblies  will  remain  in  office  qtioM^hene  se  gesserint; 
but  each  member  can  always  be  removed  by  the  as- 


THE   STRUGGLES  FOR  EMANCIPATION  36 1 

sembly  of  his  division.  Likewise  the  heads  of  the  exec- 
utive at  different  grades  will  be  elected  by  assemblies  of 
delegates  emanating  from  the  small,  local  meetings  of  the 
citizens  and  will  be  subject  to  removal.  The  members 
of  Congress  and  the  President  of  the  United  States 
should  be  removable  by  Congress.  Popular  election 
will  take  place  only  to  fill  up  vacancies.  All  holders 
of  a  public  mandate  will  be  protected  from  the  tyranny 
of  party  and  will  serve  the  people  only.  Personal  merit 
and  character  will  become  their  sole  qualifications.  In- 
dividual responsibility  for  individual  acts,  the  absence 
of  which  is  the  crying  defect  of  the  present  system,  will 
be  ensured.  Others  combine  this  reform  with  the  in- 
troduction of  direct  legislation  by  the  people,  of  the 
Referendum,  and  of  proportional  representation.  This 
scheme  will  bring  about  the  fundamental  reform  de- 
manded by  American  political  life  —  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  close  contact  between  the  individual  citizen 
and  the  agent  whom  he  chooses  to  manage  his  public 
affairs. 

170.   Others  again  lay  great  stress  on  th€_re£resenta-  Propor- 
tion of  minorities  or  proportional  representation.     It  ^^^^^  ^^P" 

^     -^  ^r— t ^^*^ —  resentation. 

is  the~^r5tem-of-4lic  nidjortty"vote  which  has  warped 
and  degraded  representative  government  and  has  en- 
abled low  politicians  to  monopolize  it.  The  inde- 
pendent elector  not  being  able  to  make  himself  heard 
in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  one  of  two  things  inevitably 
happens :  the  elector  whose  vote  is  practically  nullified 
loses  heart,  holds  aloof;  or  he  accepts,  in  despair,  the 
candidates  of  the  caucus  of  his  party  solely  in  order  not 
to  separate  from  the  majority  and  not  to  let  the  candi- 
dates of  the  opposite  party  get  in.     It  is  this  state  of 


362  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

things,  brought  about  by  the  existing  electoral  system, 
which  the  caucus  exploits  and  on  which  it  lives.  The 
majority  has  a  monopoly  of  the  representation,  and  the 
caucus  has  a  monopoly  of  the  majority.  Once  adop^ 
proportional  representation,  and  the  electors  will  no 
longer  be  forced  to  choose  between  the  two  candida- 
tures, both  equally  odious.  Large  bodies  of  electors  will 
fall  away  from  the  two  great  organizations  and  will 
reduce  them  to  simple  political  groups  within  the  nation. 
In  a  word,  the  caucus,  now  the  arch-monopolist,  would 
have  to  submit  to  the  law  of  competition.  The  repre- 
sentation of  minorities  has  obtained  a  partial  application 
in  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Pennsylvania,  though  with- 
out producing  perceptible  changes  in  political  life.  The 
failure  is  attributed  to  the  defective  character  of  the 
special  form  of  minority  representation  adopted  in  those 
States. 
Compulsory  The  indifference  usually  displayed  by  the  ''good" 
^*^^^*  citizens  towards  the  public  interest  has  suggested  the 

idea  of  the  compulsory  vote,  and  even  of  the  compulsory 
acceptance  of  elective  office. 
J  Ministers  Others  hold  that  the  evil  is  due  not  so  much  to  the 

in  Congress,  electoral  System  as  to  the  organization  of  the  public 
powers,  to  the  separation  of  the  legislature  and  the  exec- 
utive. Under  the  present  regime  the  first  is  without 
guidance  and  the  second  without  force.  The  remedy 
lies  in  the  establishment  of  closer  relations  between 
the  two  by  the  admission  of  the  representatives  of  the 
executive  into  the  assemblies,  —  as  in  the  parliamentary 
regime,  minus  the  responsibility  of  the  Cabinet,  —  and 
by  increasing  the  powers  of  the  executive. 
For  fulness'  sake  shoaild  be  mentioned  the  demand 


THE    STRUGGLES   FOR  EMANCIPATION  363 

for  woman  suffrage,   which  could  not  fail  to  purify  Woman 
political  life.  ^^^^g^- 

Having  set  out  in  quest  of  remedies  for  the  abuses 
engendered  or  fostered  by  the  caucus,  and  having,  as  it 
were,  gone  over  the  whole  field  of  American  political 
life,  the  reformers  appear  to  have  reached  the  end,  if  not 
the  object,  of  their  search.  After  accompanying  them 
to  this  extreme  point,  we  can  at  last  pause  in  the  already 
lengthy  investigation  of  the  party  system  which  we  have 
patiently  pursued  throughout  the  past  and  the  present 
career  of  American  democracy.  A  final  survey  will  en- 
able us  to  collect  and  fix  in  the  mind  the  general  impres- 
sions conveyed  by  the  multiplicity  and  variety  of  the 
phenomena  that  have  come  under  our  notice. 


SIXTEENTH    CHAPTER 


SUMMARY 


Balance- 
sheet  of 
the  party 
Organiza- 
tion. 


171.  The  eclipse  of  the  old  ruling  class,  which 
became  final  after  the  first  quarter  of  last  century,  ap- 
peared to  leave  the  ordinary  citizen  in  possession  of  the 
field.  To  secure  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  rights  over 
the  commonwealth,  and  to  facilitate  the  discharge  of  his 
political  duties,  —  which  were  growing  more  and  more 
complicated  through  the  extension  of  the  democratic 
principle  to  its  furthest  limits,  and  more  and  more 
burdensome  owing  to  the  great  economic  expansion 
which  absorbed  every  energy,  —  the  citizen  accepted  the 
services  of  the  party  Organization  formed  on  the  repre- 
sentative method. 

This  extra-constitutional  Organization  assumed  then 
a  twofold  function  in  the  economy  of  the  new  politi- 
cal system.  In  its  first  task,  that  of  upholding  the 
paramount  power  of  the  citizen,  the  Organization 
failed  miserably.  In  the  second,  that  of  ensuring 
the  daily  working  of  the  complicated  machinery  of 
democratic  government,  it  achieved  a  relative  success. 
The  government  rested  almost  entirely  on  the  elective 
system,  nearly  all  the  office-holders  were  elected,  and 
the  shortness  of  their  terms  of  office  made  it  necessary 
to  replace  them  very  frequently.  How  could  the  citi- 
zen, if  left  to  himself,  have  grappled  with  this  onerous 

364 


SUMMARY  365 

task,  which  consisted  in  filling  up  such  a  number  of 
places,  and  which  was  continually  recurring?  The 
system  of  nominating  conventions,  established  on  the 
basis  of  party,  provided  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty. 
By  preparing  the  election  business  beforehand,  by 
putting  it  cut  and  dried  before  the  elector,  the  party 
Organization  enabled  the  citizens  to  discharge  their 
duty  in  an  automatic  way,  and  thus  kept  the  gov- 
ernment machine  constantly  going.  Far  from  being 
embarrassed  by  the  growing  number  of  the  electors, 
the  party  Organization  made  room  for  them,  installed 
them  in  the  State.  In  the  case  of  electors  of  for- 
eign extraction  it  did  more;  it  was  the  first  to  assimi- 
milate  the  immigrants  from  the  four  quarters  of  the 
globe  with  the  American  population ;  by  sweeping  them, 
almost  on  their  arrival,  into  its  net,  it  forthwith  made 
these  aliens  sharers  in  the  struggles  and  the  passions 
which  were  agitating  the  country  in  which  they  had  just 
landed.  It  brought  together  and  sorted,  well  or  ill, 
all  the  elements  of  the  political  community,  but  in  the 
end  everything  found  its  place  and  settled  down. 

This  result,  a  very  important  one,  was  obtained  at  a 
very  high  price.  The  party  system  has  seriously  weak- 
ened the  citizen's  hold  on  the  government,  diminished 
the  efficacy  of  the  machinery  of  government  provided  by 
the  Constitution,  and  has  hampered  the  living  forces 
which  are  its  real  motive  powers. 

172.   The  Executive  was  the  first  to  feel  the  effects  of  The 
the  new  system.     The  convention  movement  claimed  to  ^^^^^t^ve 

'    e         r      1      '  damaged 

mfuse  fresh  vigour  mto  the  Presidency  by  withdrawing  it 
from  the  intrigues  of  aristocratic  cliques,  such  as  the  Con- 
gressional caucus,  and  by  making  it  emanate  directly 


366  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

^  from  the  people.  But  the  new  system  has  left  the  people 
only  a  choice  between  two  candidatures,  settled  before- 
hand by  professional  politicians.  Having  made  itself 
the  real  bestower  of  the  candidatures  and  sole  election 
campaign  master,  the  party  Organization  laid  hold 
of  the  Presidency.  The  President  ceased  to  be  head  of 
the  nation,  and  became  head  of  a  party,  and  even  less 
than  that  —  trustee  of  its  Organization,  which  cared 
above  all  for  the  loaves  and  fishes  of  the  patronage  en- 
trusted to  him  by  the  Constitution.  Chief  of  the  execu- 
tive responsible  for  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,  he  no 
longer  had  the  choice  of  his  agents.  Associated  with 
the  legislative  power,  he  could  no  longer  treat  on  equal 
terms  with  that  power,  which  was  his  co-ordinate  under 
the  Constitution,  but  became  his  superior  through  the 
party  system.  He  could  obtain  its  co-operation  only  by 
currying  favour  with  it,  by  sacrificing  the  independency 
of  his  office.  The  rare  attempts  at  resistance  offered  to 
Congress  by  some  Presidents,  perhaps  enhanced  the 
reputation  of  the  man  (as  in  the  case  of  Cleveland),  but 
did^ot  restore  the  strength  of  the  office, 
in  spite  ^"True,  the  President  has,  on  the  other  hand,  gained 

of  the  in-       considerable  strength ,  since  the  Civil  War.     Thus  the 

crease  of  -^  . 

its  powers,  extension  of  the  Federal  power^which  has  increased  and 
is  still  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds,  naturally  carried 
with  it  the  development  of  executive  functions,  of  those 
of  the  President.  Then  another  power,  higher  than  the 
Federal  power — public  opinion  — became  more  assertive 
owing  to  better  means  for  its  expression  and  for  its  focus- 
sing through  the  Press  and  the  telegraph ;  and  its  most 
authoritative  interpreter  all  over  the  country  proved 
again  the  President,  the  most  conspicuous  officer  of  the 


SUMMARY  367 

Union,  the  only  one  who  by  virtue  of  his  very  position 
can  speak  single-mouthed  for  the  whole  nation,  of  which 
he  is  supposed  to  be  the  direct  choice.  From  that 
vantage  ground  he  could,  if  a  man  of  character,  more 
boldly  face  Congress,  use  more  freely  his  constitutional' 
weapons  of  the  veto,  and  even  lead  against  a  recalcitrant 
Congress  the  big  battalions  of  public  opinion,  if  he  suc- 
ceeded in  rousing  it.  But  in  ordinary  circumstances 
and  under  Presidents  of  average  personal  power  the 
executive  remains  as  handicapped  by  constitutional 
limitations  and  party  conditions  as  before,  both  in  the 
legislative  sphere  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  appointing 
and  treaty-making  power.  A  President  who  is  a  strong 
man  after  his  own  fashion  may  use  against  an  unwilling 
Congress  strong  language,  if  he  has  a  gift  for  it,  but  he 
will  not  be  in  any  better  position  for  that. 

173.  ^hile  the  President's  great  rival,  the  United  The  Senate 
States  Senate,  has  gained  in  power,  it  has  at  the  same  ^^^^"^ 
time  deteriorated  in  character-omder  the  conditions  de- 
veloped by  the  party  system.)  Rather  low  at  certain 
periods,  much  higher  at  others,  owing  to  the  change 
of  its  personnel^  the  Senate  at  its  best  no  longer  has 
any  resemblance  to  that  august  assembly  which  pro- 
voked the  admiration  of  the  Tocquevilles.  There  is 
a  good  deal  of  ability  in  the  latter-day  Senate,  but  it 
is  only  business  ability.  There  is  many  a  member  of 
keen  mind,  but  it  is  rarely  a  statesman's  mind.  At  the 
utmost  the  Senate  is  a  good  working  machine  for  dis- 
patching routine  legislative  business.  It  is  not  a  place 
to  look  for  broad  views  and  large  conceptions  of  national 
policy.  In  that  grand  assembly  of  the  commonwealths 
of  the  nation  there  is  no  public  spirit.     It  is  rather  a  great 


368  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

national  'change  with  numerous  "comers,"  as  in  Wall 
The  fortress  Street  —  for  steel,  for  wool,  for  lumber,  for  oil  and  so  on, 
°  P  ^^°"        with  astute  managers  and  shrewd  attorneys  for  all  these 

crats  and  °    ^  ^  -^  ^ 

bosses,  special  interests  which  are  in  need  of  legislation  or  of 

preventing  legislation.     Bargaining,    trading   is   their 
'         object,  and  traders' methods  are  their  methods.    ''Legis- 
lation is  managed  on  the  principle  of  give  and  take,  each 
'^  ,)  interest  exacting  conditions  as  the  price  of  its  support, 
and  blocking  action  until  satisfied." 

Successful  merchants,  corporation  lawyers  of  ability, 
and  expert  party  bosses,  of  whom  the  larger  part  of  the 
^  \  Senate  is  made  up,  are  all  the  product  of  that  alliance, 
which  developed  so  to  speak  under  the  eyes  of  the  reader, 
between  the  party  machine  and  the  money  interest. 
Here  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  that  alliance  is 
crowned;  here  it  finds  its  most  salient  expression  and 
reaches  its  highest  efficiency.  They  may  be  seen  here  in 
flesh  and  blood  united  and  inseparable  as  they  are  in  the 
whole  field  of  public  and  economic  life.  And  at  the 
same  time,  as  it  were  for  the  convenience  of  the  survey, 
each  has  there  its  separate  specimens  of  crack  wire- 
pullers on  the  one  hand  and  millionaires  on  the  other. 
The  claim  to  the  United  States  Senatorship  being 
founded  as  a  rule  not  on  national  eminence  but  on  the 
support  of  the  State  Machine,  every  Senator  has  more 
I  or  less  to  be  not  a  master  statesman,  but  a  master  of 
I  "practical  politics."  In  the  States  ruled  by  the  bosses 
it  is  the  State  boss  in  person.  If  he  wants  to  go  into  the 
Senate,  he  has  but  to  hold  up  his  hand,  and  the  most* 
eminent  competitor  will  be  sacrificed  without  further 
ado  even  though  he  be  of  the  stamp  of  Webster  or 
Clay.     The  rich,  men  buy  a  seat  in  the  Senate  from  the 


J 


SUMMARY  369 

party  Organization  for  cash  with  little  disguise.  There 
are  now  perhaps  fewer  of  them  in  the  Senate  than  was 
the  case  a  decade  ago,  but  still  they  form  about  a  sixth 
of  the  ijiembership. 

Of  course,  steel  and  lumber  are  not  the  only  subjects 
the  Senate  deals  with,  and  there  are  Senators  besides 
the  representatives  of  special  interests  and  the  multi- 
millionaires, but,  with  few  exceptions  (fortunately  in-  and  of 
creasing) ,  they  are  wheeled  into  line,  if  not  by  bargains  reaction, 
and  deals,  by  party  discipline  and  the  timid  or  reaction- 
ary mind  of  their  set.  They  are  under  the  sway  of  the 
spirit  of  privilege  and  cowardly  conservatism  which  wealth 
and  party  Organization  breathe  and  with  which  they  in- 
fect the  surrounding  atmosphere.  Honestly  and  con- 
scientiously they  help  to  prevent  legislation  breaking  new 
ground,  especially  on  lines  of  economic  or  social  progress. 
They  go  ahead  only  when  it  comes  to  spending,  to  squan- 
dering the  national  resources ;  they  outrun  in  financial 
extravagance  the  popular  branch  of  Congress.  After  a 
due  balance  has  been  assigned  to  the  motives  of  this  and 
of  that  section  of  the  Senate,  on  the  whole  the  impression 
it  gives  so  frequently  of  a  commercial  oligarchy  at  the 
head  of  the  government  is  far  from  being  unfounded. 

174.    On  that  oligarchy  there  is  no  check  laid  by  Keeps  in 
the  popular  Chamber  representing  directly  the  sover-  subjection 
eignty  of  the  people.     The  Senate  has  subjugated  the  of  Repre- 
House'^of  Representatives,  again  largely  through  party  sentatives. 
conditions.     The   Senators  disposing  of   Federal   pa- 
tronage are  the  supreme  masters  of  the  party  Organi- 
zation in  their  respective  States,  and  the  members  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  who   depend   on   that 
Organization  for  their  political  life  must  be  agreeable 

2B 


370  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

to  their  Senators.  Without  their  good-will  the  Con- 
gressmen would  get  no  appointment  to  offices  for  sup- 
porters in  their  districts;  against  the  Senators'  will  they 
could  not  be  renominated ;  without  their  assistance  they 
would  not  be  able  to  have  even  the  legislative  measures 
for  their  constituencies  passed,  the  last  word  in  Con- 
gressional legislation  belonging  practically  to  the  Senate. 
Swaying  the  Representatives  from  the  vantage-ground 
of  party,  the  Senate  has  developed  and  accentuated  the 
subjection  of  the  House  by  its  legislative  usurpations. 
It  has  nullified  the  initiative  in  regard  to  finance  re- 
served by  the  Constitution  to  the  popular  branch  of 
Congress.  By  its  right  of  amendment,  of  which  it  has 
made  an  improper  use,  and  by  systematic  obstruc- 
tion, consisting  in  keeping  the  bills  passed  by  the  House 
hung  up  in  committee,  the  Senate  has  brought  the 
House  to  do  its  will.  And  the  House  cannot  make  a 
successful  stand  against  the  upper  chamber  precisely 
owing  to  the  personal  dependence  of  the  Representa- 
tives on  the  Senators  as  their  party  chieftains.  Thus 
the  Senate,  having  become  the  focus  of  the  party  Organi- 
zation and  the  stronghold  of  the  most  important  economic 
interests  of  the  country,  could  with  impunity  encroach 
both  on  the  province  of  the  Executive  and  on  that 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Party  conditions 
have  placed  the  Senators  in  a  sort  of  ambush  from 
which  they  can  hit  everybody  without  being  struck 
themselves,  and  have  made  the  Senate  the  foremest 
organ  of  the  extra-constitutional  government  9f  the 
United  States.* 

^  This  condition  in  no  way  contradicts  the  fact  that  the  Senate 
by  itself  is  a  constitutional  body.     As  soon  as  a  constitutional  body 


SUMMARY  371 

175.   Vassals  of  the  Senators,   the  Representatives  The  House 
are  in  their  own  House  slaves  of  the  party  organiza-  [ts^<wani^ 
tion.     The  lack  of  any  co-ordinating  organ  under  the  zation." 
separation  of  powers  established  by  the  Constitution, 
the  dispersal  of  the  legislative  business  among  an  im- 
mense number  of  committees  and  sub-committees,  and 
the  obstructive  tactics  of  minority  groups,  for  party 
mischief  if  not  for  the  benefit  of  private  interests,  have 
cried  for  concentration.     Stringent  rules  curtailing  de- 
bates, binding  the  members  hand  and  foot,  were  enacted, 
and  the  Speaker  was  given  autocratic  powers  for  run- 
ning the  House  in  good  order.     A  ruling  clique  with 
that  officer  at  its  head,  established  under  the  author- 
ity of   the  predominant  party  and   by  means  of  the 
party  caucus,  reduced  the  members  to  servitude.     The 
House  ceased  to  be  a  deliberative  assembly  and  became  ^ 
a  ratifying  body  for  confirming  the  decrees  of  the  few   | 
leaders  of  the  House  "organization."     There  is  seldom   1 
any  real  discussion;  when  speeches  are  made  they  afe 
chiefly  "for  Buncombe."     There  is  no  field  for  states- 
manship.    Even  opportunities  of  more  modest  range 
are  suppressed.     A  member  may  be  in  the  House  for 
ten  years  and  not  be  allowed  to  speak,  if  he  does  not 
bow  to  the  "organization"  and  does  not  make  before- 
hand arrangements  with  the  Speaker  in  his  private 
room  for  being  "recognized"  by  him.     The  feeling  of 
responsibility,  of  self-respect,  inevitably  slackens.    Even 
when   big   men,  the    members   can   have   only  small 

assumes  functions  which  are  not  assigned  to  it  by  the  constitution, 
either  expressly  or  by  implication,  it  acts  in  an  extra-constitutional 
way,  and  if  it  does  so  systematically  it  becomes  a  regular  extra- 
constitutional  organ  in  so  far  as  it  so  acts. 


372 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Contribu- 
tory causes 
to  the 
degradation 
of  the 
House. 


Power  of 
special 
interests  in 
the  House. 


ambitions.  For  that  reason  alone  their  caliber  cannot 
be  very  high. 

But  there  are  other  contributory  causes:  the  men 
who  find  their  way  into  the  House  are  those  who  have 
succeeded  in  "getting  the  delegates,"  or  in  ingratiating 
themselves  with  the  Machine  or  the  boss.  Their  po- 
litical methods  have  consequently  been  formed  by  the 
practice  of  petty  expedients,  of  combinations  and 
compromises  on  individuals  and  interests,  of  "  deals." 
The  custom  which  confines  the  choice  of  candidates  to 
local  residents  narrows  still  more  the  supply  of  men  of 
higher  character.  Thus  it  is  only  natural  that  in  the 
upshot  the  seats  in  the  House  of  Representatives  are 
occupied  by  a  good  number  of  mediocrities  or,  at  all 
events,  by  average  men.  However,  there  are  not  en- 
tirely lacking  men  of  ability  and  high  character,  but 
they  have  no  chance,  they  are  handicapped  by  the 
autocratic  regime  of  the  House;  so  they  strive  to  be 
transferred  to  the  Senate  and  they  deplete  the  House  of 
its  best  talent. 

176.  The  integrity  of  the  members  is  not  of  a  low 
standard  —  there  is  scarcely  any  corruption,  —  but  ad- 
vantage is  taken  of  them  by  the  party  discipline  which 
makes  them  vote  with  their  eyes  shut.  The  vested 
interests  are  not  so  fully  represented  in  the  House  as 
in  the  Senate,  there  may  be  not  much  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  membership  representing  special  interests,' 
but  the  corporations  sway  the  House  of  Representatives 
all  the  same  through  the  "organization"  and  the  cau- 
cus. Nay,  the  Speaker  himself  may  be  indebted  for 
his  chair  to  the  support  of  a  powerful  Trust,  the  Steel 
Trust  or  some  other.     Deformed  by  so  many  depress- 


SUMMARY  373 

ing  influences,  the  members  of  the  House  are  not 
more  representative  of  the  best  public  opinion  than  the 
Senate,  though  elected  directly  by  the  people,  and  they 
display  the  same  reactionary  stand- pat  tendencies,  so 
far  as  they  dare.  An  imperious  and  sometimes  wrath- 
ful call  of  opinion  is  necessary  to  wring  from  them 
measures  of  national  welfare  stirring  up  the  stagnant 
waters  of  public  life.  They  prefer  the  dull  but  quiet 
existence  filled  up  by  sending  to  their  farmer-constit- 
uents packets  of  seed  (distributed  at  national  expense), 
by  providing  their  "workers"  with  offices,  and  by 
appropriating  in  cash  as  much  as  possible  for  their 
districts.  The  cynical  remark  of  the  French  minister 
of  some  years  ago,  which  became  famous,  '^Regardez 
a  vos  circonscriptions,^^  finds  here  the  most  complete 
and  matter-of-fact  application. 

An  annual  grab  is  performed  by  the  members  of  the  Local 
House,  upon  the  log-rolling  system,  till  recently  in  the  '"^^^^^^^ 
form  of  "ommbusIl--biUs  on  River  and  Harbour,  and 
now  chiefly  on  Public  Buildings  appropriations.     Mill- 
ions and  millions  are- voted  without  discussion.     The 
feeling  of  responsibility  to  the  country  is  obliterated. 
The  member  will  be  tested  at  home  by  "what  has  he; 
done  for  his  district?"     The  affairs  of  districts,  the\ 
local  affairs  indeed  take  up  most  of  the  time  of  the  ' 
House,  with  the  result  that  an  enormous  quantity  of 
legislative  acts  are  turned  out  every  session,^  and  so  far 
the  "legislative  mill,"  as  the  House  has  been  aptly 
called,  with  its  masterful  managers,  foremen  old  in 

*  The  output  is  continually  increasing:  in  the  57th  Congress 
2781  measures  were  passed,  in  the  58th  4041,  in  the  59th  6940,  in 
the  60th  97 1 1. 


tures 


374  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

service  and  docile  hands,  works  smoothly  under  the 
orderly  despotism  by  which  it  is  ruled.  That  des- 
potism of  party,  crude  and  undisguised,  is  the  sali- 
ent feature  which  the  working  of  the  House  brings 
out,  just  as  the  Senate  embodies  the  other  aspect 
of  the  American  government  —  the  plutocratic  sway 
over  public  affairs.  Like  any  despotism,  that  obtain- 
ing in  the  House  is  tempered  by  rebellions  —  against 
the  Speaker  and  the  Organization  —  which  have  be- 
come a  little  more  frequent  in  these  later  days,  but  so 
far  show  only  the  beginnings  of  achievement. 
Decline  of  1 77-  The  State  legislatures  exhibit  in  a  still  greater 
the  legisla-  degree  the  decline,  one  would  be  almost  entitled  to  say 
the  collapse,  of  representative  government.;  The  func- 
tion which  the  Constitution  of  the  Union  has  assigned 
them  in  the  Federal  sphere,  by  entrusting  them  with  the 
election  of  the  Senators  of  the  Ui\ited  States,  is  too  fre- 
quently prostituted  to  the  bosses  and  to  millionaires 
or  to  special  interests,  so  that  there  is  now  a  cry  in  the 
land,  becoming  louder  and  louder,  to  take  away  from 
the  legislatures  the  selection  of  Senators.  Nor  do  these 
assemblies  represent  the  people  better  in  the  sphere  of 
the  local  interests  of  the  State.  The  finances  are  ad- 
ministered without  regard  to  economy;  the  waste  of 
the  public  resources  is  an  ever-present  and  growing 
evil.  The  laws  are  made  with  singular  incompetence 
and  carelessness.  Their  number  is  excessive,  running 
into  volumes  each  session ;  but  they  are  mostly  laws  of 
local  or  private  interest.  >The  motives  which  enter  into 
the  making  of  these  laws  are  often  of  an  obviously 
mercenary  nature.  In  many  legislatures  there  is  a 
*' lobby,"  which  buys  legislation  and  wields  such  a 


■  SITY 


i^LrFOP^^^- 


SUMMARY  375 


powerful  influence  that  it  has  earned  the  name  of 
"third  house."  In  the  States  ruled  by  the  Machine 
the  majority  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  are 
simply  tools  of  the  boss,  and  at  his  behest  they  grant  to 
the  rich  industrial  or  financial  companies  all  sorts  of 
"franchises,"  of  fiscal  privileges.  There  is  a  good 
number  of  respectable  men  in  the  legislatures  even  of 
those  States.  And  it  may  be  that  most  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  legislatures,  as  I  have  been  frequently 
enough  assured,  are  not  so  much  wicked  as  narrow- 
minded,  ignorant,  and  weak,  pliable  men.  Evidently 
the  groove  of  the  party  Organization  is  on  the'  whole 
incapable  of  turning  out  men  of  a  different  stamp. 

The  municipal  assemblies  are  often  no  better  off   and  of  the 
than  the  legislatures:   filled  with  "boodle  aldermen,"  "^""^^^P^^ 

°  V    assemblies. 

they  indulge  in  the  same  practices,  and  with  the  samq 
disastrous  results  for  the  public  purse.  What  bribery  -^.^ 
leaves  undone,  is  achieved  by  incompetence  and  wasteful 
habits.  Dealing  as  it  does  with  the  greater  part  of  the 
American  population,  and  "Effecting  its  most  important 
economic  interests,  the  administration  of  the  cities  ex-  "^ 
hibits  the  most  complete  failure  of  elective  government 
in  the  United  States,  y 

178.  The  judicial  power  has  been  mQie^s2arc^_5lB:5^'^^® 
tiieothers :  from  a  feeling  of  self-preservation  the  politi-  ^^^^l^ 
cal  society  of  America  tried  to  withdraw  the  law  courts 
from  the  regime  of  party;    yet  they  did  not  entirely  . 
escape  its  dissolvent  action.     The  functions  of  Federal 
judges  and  law  officers,  whom  the  President  appoints, 
and  the  State  judicial  offices,  also  filled  in  certain  States 
by  the   Executive,  without  being  distributed   on   the 
spoils  system  in  all  its  rigour,  were  pretty  often  be- 


376  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

Stowed  as  a  reward  on  men  who  had  earned  the  grati- 
tude of  the  party  Organization,  or  who  were  backed  up 
by  it.  With  the  judiciary  elected  by  the  people  that  is 
almost  the  rule.  Introduced  into  the  United  States 
through  democratic  fanaticism,  this  system  was  de- 
veloped under  the  impulse  given  by  the  caucus  in  need 
of  elective  offices  for  running  its  concern.  Being  sub- 
ject to  election,  the  judges  had  to  court  the  favour  of 
political  parties,  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  the  Ma- 
chines and  the  bosses.  The  natural  result  was  a 
lowering  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  standard  of  the 
bench,  although  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  pre- 
vented it  from  being  filled  with  notoriously  undeserving 
men.  If  the  integrity  of  the  judges  is,  in  the  main, 
fairly  satisfactory,  their  independence  is  not  intact  p 
cases  where  the  interests  of  the  party  are  involved.  In 
the  administration  of  criminal  justice  that  independence 
scarcely  exists  at  all  among  the  police  m^agistrates  in 
the  large  cities  and,  especially,  the  public  prosecutors; 
elected  under  the  auspices  of  the  Machine,  they  be- 
come its  humble  servants  and  arrest  the  arm  of  the 
law  in  order  to  shield  its  proteges.  In  matters  pertain- 
ing to  industrial  relations  and  conflicts  with  labour  the 
independence  of  the  judiciary  has  likewise  been  chal- 
lenged for  some  time.  The  elective  judges  themselves 
—  frequently  chosen,  under  the  influence  exerted  by  the 
money  power  on  party  organizations,  from  men  of  a 
reactionary  mind — are  considered  not  responsive  enough 
,  to  public  opinion. 
The  spring ,  179.  Thus,  the  Spring  of  government  is  weakened 
of  govern-  ^^  warped  everywhere.  We  have  followed  the  mani- 
weakened.     fold    and   varied    and   often    desperate    attempts    at 


SUMMARY  377 

making  up  for  the  inadequacy  or  the  irregularity 
of  governmental  action.  We  have  seen  protection 
by  the  law  and  protection  against  the  law  bought 
from  disreputable  go-betweens.  Private  associations, 
law  enforcement  societies,  law  and  order  leagues,  and 
others,  were  founded  to  bring  the  transgressors  of  the 
law  to  justice;  they  organized  their  police,  their  detec- 
tives, for  the  purpose  of  exposing  the  evil-doers.  In 
the  largest  cities  of  the  New  World  private  initiative  has 
had  to  step  in  to  get  the  streets  cleansed  and  to  discharge 
other  duties  which  devolve  on  the  municipal  adminis- 
tration in  a  well-ordered  community.  Even  in  the 
rural  districts  the  village  improvement  societies  often 
perform  the  same  task.  To  obtain  more  durable  and 
more  regular  effects  than  could  be  achieved  by  these 
spasmodic  efforts,  attempts  were  made  to  straighten  the 
relaxed  governmental  spring  by  main  force:  inade- 
quacy of  action  being  mistaken  for  inadequacy  of 
powers,  the  latter  were  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  a 
few  persons;  dictators  were  created,  from  the  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  down  to  the  mayors 
of  cities;  the  bounds  of  State  authority  were  widened. 

Again,   the   failure  of   elective  government  having  The  legis- 
shown  itself  most  conspicuously  in  the  legislative  as-  Jftive  power 
semblies,   the   public   turned   wrathfully   upon   them. 
When  modem  society  came  into  possession  of  liberty  over 
a  century  ago,  it  had  placed  its  fondest  hopes  in  parlia- 
ments ;  it  had  looked  on  them  as  the  palladium  of  free- 
dom, as  the  safest  refuge  for  regenerated  humanity 
against  the  ''tyrants."     Bitterly  disappointed  by  ex- 
perience, the  political  society  of  America  beat  the  idol     _,--—' 
and  abruptly  set  up  the  executive  power  again,  no 


of  the 
Executive. 


378  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE    PARTY    SYSTEM 

longer  seeing  in  it  the  oppressor,  but  hoping  to  find  in 
Exaltation  |  it  a  tribune  of  the  people :  the  President  of  the  United 
States  was  expected  to  neutralize  the  mischievous 
action  of  Congress;  the  Governor  was  given  the  right 
of  veto  over  legislation  in  many  States  where  the  Ex- 
ecutive did  not  enjoy  this  prerogative,  and,  indeed, 
there  are  now  left  only  two  such  States;  mayors  were 
invested  with  extraordinary  powers  at  the  expense  of 
the  municipal  assemblies,  or  these  latter  have  even  been 
entirely  suppressed  under  the  "commission  plan."  At 
the  same  time,  the  State  tried  to  strengthen  the  neg- 
lected public  weal  by  a  remarkable  development  of 
regulation,  of  the  "police  power  of  government." 
Direct  180.   On  the  other  hand,  despairing  of  its  representa- 

government    tives,  the  people  endeavoured  to  do  without  them  on 

demanded.  .  1.11 

as  many  occasions  as  possible;  not  being  able  to  trust 
any  one,  it  took  into  its  own  hands  duties  which  are 
the  attribute  of  representative  government :  many  sub- 
jects of  ordinary  legislation  were  withdrawn  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  legislatures  and  transferred  to  the 
category  of  constitutional  laws,  on  which  the  people  at 
large  decide  without  appeal.  Lastly  "the  failure  of 
1  representative  government"  has  b"een  accepted  as  an 
I  axiom,  and  a  movement  is  now  in  progress  for  estab- 
I  lishing  in  its  stead  the  direct  government  of  the  people. 
I  It  is  to  be  introduced  all  round,  in  the  constitutional 
government  through  the  Referendum,  the  Initiative,  and 
the  Recall;  in  the  extra-constitutional  government,  in 
the  party  system,  through  the  direct  primaries.  The 
party  system  as  well  would  be  regenerated  by  the  sup- 
pression of  the  representative  principle.  Away  with 
the  go-betweens,  let  the  people  rule. 


{i^lf 


SUMMARY  379 


Whether  or  not  the  people  can  and  will  be  entrusted  Habit  of 
with  direct  government   to  such  an  extent,  its  ability  ^°^^'  ^^^^' 

government 

and  its  habit  of  handling  public  affairs  have  already  relaxed, 
been  impaired  by  the  very  system  of  party  which  is 
to   be  regenerated.     LocaL-sel^-gnvenmient,  which  in 
Anglo-Saxon  communities  had,  from  time  immemorial 
so  to  speak,  set  in  motion  the  whole  political  machinery, 
has  subsided- undci  Llie  action  oj  the  caucus.    In  its 
anxiety  for  the  spoils  of  presidential  patronage,  it  has 
subordinated    all    the   elections,    from   those   of    the* 
township    up,  to   the    presidential  election.     By  thus 
centralizing,  in  spite  of  their  diversity,  the  aims  and     V 
objects  pursued  at  the  various  points  of  the  political    ^ 
circumference,  the    caucus  regime    undermined  State 
and  local  autonomy,  and  made  the  electors  lose  their 
interest  in  local  public  life. 

It  might  doubtless  be  pointed  out  that  by  making  all  Centralizing 
the  electoral  issues   turn   on   national   problems   the  tendencies 

,     ,       ,  ,     .  ,  ,         1  /-    .   1  ~~^^  the  party 

caucus^Jielped^o  brmg  about  that  beneficial  process  system  not 
which  made  a  nation  of  the  United  States.     Indeed  it  an  un- 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  party  system  has  contributed 
to  this  result,  along  with  many  other  factors,  such  as 
the  outcome  of  the  Civil  War,  the  economic  revolution, 
the  railroad  and  the  telegraph,  which  have  lessened 
distances  and  blended  the  whole  population  in  com- 
mon interests  and  common  passions.     But  there  re- 
mains none  the  less  the  fact  that  with  that  wholesome     /N 
centralization,   the    caucus,  has,   on   the  other  hand, 
brought    about   a   harmful    centralization,    which   by 
stifling  self-regulated  local  life  and  by  enfeebling  men's 
initiative  and  volition  dries  up  the  sap  of  a  political 
community  and  preys  upon  the  very  roots  of  its  existence. 


38o 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


"Party 
govern- 
ment" not 
secured. 


Recent 


\  theory  on 
Vj  the  har- 
monizing 
power  of 
party 


not  borne 
out  by  the 
facts 


i8i.  If  the  heavy  sacrifices  made  to  party  interest 
at  every  point  of  the  constitutional  sphere  could  be 
justified  by  the  necessity  of  securing  at  all  hazards  the 
benefits  of  "party  government,"  supposed  to  be  alone 
capable  of  supplying  the  framework  for  government  by 
public  opinion,  the  sacrifices  have  been  made  almost 
in  vain  :^  there  has  been  and  there  is  in  the  United 
States  no  "party  government"  in  the  real  sens^. 
True,  the  discovery  was  made  some  ten  years  ago  that 
though  the  United  States  government  has  been  de- 
prived of  the  benefits  of  the  English  form  of  party 
government  working  through  the  Cabinet,  American 
political  genius  has  largely  supplied  the  deficiency. 
The  Constitution  has  set  off  the  powers  of  govern- 
ment against  one  another  by  a  system  of  checks  and 
balances;  the  party  Organization  has  resumed  the 
scattered  powers,  brought  them  into  harmonious 
co-operation,  especially  the  executive  and  the  legisla- 
tive branches.  And  that  was  the  result  not  of  for- 
tunate circumstances  but,  it  seems,  of  deliberate 
effort:  "party  Organization  was  devised"  to  meet 
"the  need  of  means  of  concentration  so  as  to  establish 
a  control  over  the  divided  powers  of  government." 
This  theory  appeared  alluring  enough  to  be  adopted 
by  some  writers  of  prominence  and  expanded,  in  cer- 
tain cases,  with  brilliancy  of  literary  style.  It  has, 
however,  one  defect :  it  is  not  borne  out  by  the  facts. 

To  begin  with,  one  is  reminded  that  from  almost 
the  very  period  when  the  party  Organization  was  so 
thoughtfully  "devised,"  from  the  retirement  of  Jack- 
son down  to  the  advent  to  power  of  McKinley  (apart 
from  the  period  of  the  Civil  War  and  of  the  Reconstruc- 


SUMMARY  381 

tion,  when  the  South  was  not  represented  or  not  nor-  in  national 
mally  represented  in  Congress),  there  has  not  been  a  P°'^^^^^ 
single  instance  of  the  President  and  the  majority  of 
the  two  Houses  being  of  the  same  party  throughout/ 
the    presidential    term.     In   one    or   other   House,   if 
not  in  both,  the  majority  has  belonged  to  the  party 
opposed  to  the  President,  at  least  during  the  second 
half  of  each  presidential  administration,  after  the  bi- 
ennial renewal  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  which 
has  almost  invariably  broken  up  the  majority  of   the 
President's  party. 

Since  McKinley' sera  the  Executive  and  the  majority  in 
both  Houses  have  belonged  to  the  same  party,  the  Repub- 
lican party,  but  what  were  the  relations  between  them, 
particularly  during  the  most  brilliant  period  of  the 
Republican  ascendency  under  Mr.  Roosevelt's  adminis- 
trations? Congress  did  its  best  to  thwart  the  Presi- 
dent's policies,  and  the  President  did  his  utmost  to  dis- 
credit Congress  before  the  countr}^-.  Opposed  by  the 
Senators  and  Congressmen  of  his  own  party,  Mr. 
Roosevelt  sought  and  received  the  help  of  Democrats. 
He  was  powerful  enough  to  thrust  on  the  party  his 
favourite  candidate  for  successor,  but  the  party  Organi- 
zation did  not  on  that  account  come  forth  with  unity  of 
purpose.  Two  separate  canvasses  were  conducted  and 
both  separately  financed  —  one  for  the  President  who 
was  to  continue  Mr.  Roosevelt's  policy,  the  other  for 
the  members  of  Congress  in  hostility  to  that  policy,  and 
both  were  successful  at  the  polls.  Mr.  Taft  pledged 
himself  to  a  revision  of  the  Tariff  downwards,  and  so 
did  the  platform  adopted  by  the  Republican  National 
Convention.     An  extra  session  of  Congress  was  con- 


382  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

vened  for  that  object.     But  Congress,  in  alliance  with 
the  money  interest,  revised  the  Tariff  upwards.    The 
feeble  attempts  made  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  placate  the  consumer  oppressed  by  the  Protectionist 
tariff  for  the  benefit  of  the  manufacturers,  were  sup- 
pressed by  the  Senate.     The  discipline  of  party  was 
used  to  give  a  lie  to  the  party  platform,  and  in  addition 
.votes  of  Democratic  Senators  won  over  to  Protection 
have  been  secured.     The  President  found  himself  help- 
less, all  his  influence  backed  by  public  opinion  suc- 
ceeded only  in  wringing  from  Congress  a  few  conces- 
sions in  the  interest  of  that  outcast,  the  consumer. 
182.   When  all  these  facts  recurring  again  and  again 
f      are  reviewed,  one  wonders  what  has  become  of  that 
I      harmonizing    power    of    party    organization    securing 
^'      "organic  co-operation,"  which  looms  so  large  in  the 
nor  in  eye  of  the  exponents  of  the  theory  in  question?   Or 

State  gov-      perhaps,  does  it  obtain  more  successfully  in  the  smaller 

eminent.  r  r>  i  1  n-     •        •  1 

area  of  State  government  where  the  connictmg  mterests 
of  a  lesser  magnitude  are  more  easily  bridged  over? 
But  what  do  we  find  in  the  State  of  New  York,  for 
instance  ?  There  the  people  have  triumphantly  elected 
and  re-elected  a  Republican  governor  of  great  promi- 
nence, Mr.  Hughes,  and  on  the  same  ticket  with  him 
a  Republican  legislature.  Is  not  then  harmonious  co- 
operation between  them  secured  in  advance  ?  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  they  are  both  at  loggerheads ;  the  Repub- 
lican governor  on  the  one  hand  and  the  members  of 
the  Republican  majority  in  the  legislature  on  the  other 
are  stumping  the  State  to  denounce  each  other's  wicked- 
ness. 

This  utter  impotence  of  party  organization  to  har- 


SUMMARY  383 

monize  the  separated  powers  of  government  is  natural  The  con- 
enough.    /The  American  government  was  not  intended  ^^j^rangT-^ 
at  all  to  be  a  party  government;  the  Fathers  dreaded  ments  not 
party  and  took  precautions  against  its  getting  hold  of  ^^.vourable 
the  constitutional  fabric,  by  building  barriers  between  government; 
the  several  branches  of  government.     Howevei .  parties 
arose,  owing  at  first  to  fundamental   divergences   of 
opinion  on  the  Constitution,  to  grave  national  prob- 
lems   afterwards,    and    became    perpetuated    chiefly 
through  combinations  of   selfish  interests.     The  adap- 
tation of  the  party  system  thus  created  to  the  constitu- 
tional framework  proved  difficult,  at  least  for  the  sake  of 
good  government,  and  failed  in  the  long  run.     It  may 
be  questioned  whether  the  framers  of  the  Constitution 
have  always  built  wisely,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  they  built  strongly.     The 
constitutional  partitions  erected  by  them  have  proved 
till  this  day  too  solid,  too  high,  not  only  to  be  removed, 
but  even  to  be  lowered.     The  party  system  perhaps 
might  still  have  succeeded  but  for  the  make-up  of  the 
parties  themselves  and  for  the  elements  of  their  motive 
power.  'A  ^ 

183.   Party  government,  as  it  has  worked  out  in  American 
England,   presupposes   two   great  national    organiza-  P^^'^'.^f* 
tions,  each  presenting  a  body  of  men  with  a  single  unpropi- 
mind  and  a  single  heart  throbbing  in  uniform  aspira-  ^^°"^- 
tions    over    the   whole   field    of    political    life,   sub- 
ordinating every  individual  will  and  might  to  the  com- 
mon aim ;  and,  in  possession  of  that  force,  eager  and 
able  to  undertake  the  solution  of  any  national  prob- 
lem.    Now,  the  American  party  Organization  did  not 
bring  into  Congress,  except  in  times  of  crises,  such 


.384    .       DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

,."  majorities,  guided  by  the  general  interest,  united  by 
principles  and  common  aims  which  reflected  the 
national  conscience.  Viewed  as  a  whole,  the  great 
Nohomoge-  parties  have  been  throughout  their  career  nothing  but 
neous  ma-  agglomerations  artificially  brought  together  and  kept 
together^  except  the  original  Republican  party,  the 
party  of  Lincoln,  called  into  existence  by  a  single  prob- 
lem, which  sharply  divided  the  public  mind.  A  party, 
as  a  rule,  represented  merely  a  sign  which  covered 
sometimes  profounder  divergences  of  view  and  more 
bitter  factional  struggles  than  those  differentiat- 
ing it  from  the  opposite  party.  The  membership 
of  a  party  was  brought  together  most  frequently  by 
a  common  desire  to  get  out  of  politics  ''what 
there  was  in  it"  for  the  benefit  of  the  Organization  or 
of  the  allied  special  interests.  To  preserve  the  external 
unity  of  the  party,  that  is  to  say,  the  name  and  style 
under  which  it  conducted  its  operations,  the  Organi- 
zation was  always  trying  to  hush  up  the  gravest 
problems,  "to  agree  to  disagree,"  to  "stand  pat,"  to 
juggle  with  principles  and  programmes.  The  parties 
were  in  consequence  incapable  of  initiative  or  respon- 
sibility, they  could  not  put  forward  measures  of  national 
import  or  display  constructive  statesmanship.  Long 
and  high-sounding  platforms  were  good  only  for  catch- 
ing votes.  Political  action  was  determined  more  often 
than  not  by  the  balance  of  conflicting  private  interests 
connected  with  or  represented  by  the  parties. 

How  could  in  such  conditions  a  party  system  com- 
municate to  the  separate  organs  of  government  that 
unity  of  purpose  and  of  will  springing  from  moral  con- 
sciousness in  which  it  was  itself  lacking?    How  could 


J 


SUMMARY  385 

it  encompass  them  all  in  a  common  responsibility,  and 
enforce  it?  Ignoring  principles,  it  had  no  general  and\ 
rational  criterion  to  apply  to  the  conduct  of  the  menV 
whom  it  had  brought  into  office.  Absorbed  in  its  ^ 
selfish  purposes,  it  lacked  moral  authority  and  moral 
stimulus.  The  eclectic  mind  of  the  exponents  of  the 
above-mentioned  theory  has  very  well  grasped  this 
situation.  They  say  themselves:  "Party  organization 
undertakes  to  supervise  the  conduct  of  legislative  bodies 
only  so  far  as  party  interests  distinctly  require."  And 
what  are  party  interests?  To  this  the  same  writers 
reply:  ''Since  party  lacks  a  true  representative  char-  _^ 

acter,  and  its  concern  in  public  affairs  is  at  bottom  a 
business  pursuit  carried  on  for  personal  gain  and 
emolument,  the  service  which  party  performs  in  exe- 
cuting the  behests  of  public  opinion  and  in  carrying  on 
political  development  must  be  an  incident  of  its  ordinary 
activity."  Finally  the  same  writers  allow  themselves 
to  admit:  "And  yet  at  the  best  the  control  which  party 
exercises  over  government  is  uncertain.  .  .  .  Govern- 
ment is  still  in  solution,  and  nothing  may  come  to 
crystallization." 

184.   Again,  the  second  condition  of   party  govern-  No  oppo-      •' 
ment  requiring  that  there  should  be  two  parties  balanc-  **^°"*       ,^^^ 
ing  one  another,  checking  themselveis^  reciprocally  and      ! 
always  ready  to  alternate  at  the  helm  of  the  State,  has 
been  very  imperfectly  if  at  all  realized  in  the  Ameri-    , 
can  Union,  while  for  many  years  it  has  simply  not 
existed.    There  is  no  longer  in  Congress  any  Opposition 
in  the  parliamentary  sense.     Party  divisions  have  been  \^.X/ 
practically  reduced  to  a  difference  in  titles  and  to  the  ^   ^ 
distinction  of  "ins"  and  "outs."     The  party  out  of 

2C 


386  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

power,  the  Democratic  party,  is  utterly  demoralized 
and  absolutely  incapable  of  serving  as  a  counterpoise. 
Many    Democratic    Senators    and    Congressmen   give 
their  votes  to  the  dominant  party  for  a  plate  of  lentils. 
The  only  sincere  and  consistent  opposition  comes  from 
v^ithin  the  majority  party,  from  a  handful  of  courageous 
men  branded  as  "insurgents."     The  see-saw  by  which 
-  the  party  system  is  supposed  to  ensure  good  govem- 
'     ment,  or  at  least  supply  a  temporary  remedy  for  mis- 
government,  is  arrested,  and  the  very  raison  d'etre  of 
party  government  is  destroyed. 
Party  At  the  same  time  the  disciplining  power  of  party 

discipline  \^  fgj^  {^i  Congress  only  too  much,  but  not  as  a  national 
force;  it  is  only  a  domestic  power  within  each  Cham- 
ber, handled  by  the  caucus  or  its  masters,  for  wheeling 
into  line  the  members,  especially  those  of  the  majority 
party,  for  the  particular  business  of  the  House  or  for 
the  special  interests  which  are  swaying  it.  Without 
that  they  could  not  achieve  much  in  the  scramble  for 
good  things  on  which  they  are  bent;  the  lowest  com- 
pany of  freebooters  must  submit  to  discipline.  The 
party  discipline  which  prevails  in  the  national  Capitol 
serves  only  to  run  one  or  other  House  of  Congress 
but  not  the  government  of  the  country.  It  does 
not  prevent  at  all  one  House  running  against  the 
other  and  both  against  the  Executive,  though  all 
three  profess  the  same  party  faith.  The  harmony  be- 
tween the  separated  organs  of  government,  so  far  as 
it  obtains,  is  secured  as  a  matter  of  fact  by  private, 
nay  secret  understandings,  "deals,"  and  bargains,  and, 
in  important  cases,  by  the  pressure  of  public  opinion. 
This  latter,  following  the  lead  of  the  President,  or  act- 


SUMMARY  387 

ing  Spontaneously,  comes  out,  however  spasmodically, 
not  for  party  but  to  coerce  party,  to  defeat  selfish  party 
organization  unwilling  or  slow  to  carry  out  its  will. 

In  the  upshot  the  "party  government"  obtaining  in 
the  United  States  is  nothing  but  a  pretence ;  real  party 
government  working  regularly  has  been  made  impos- 
sible there  both  for  constitutional  and  political  reasons : 
the  constitutional  partitions  between  the  organs  of  gov- 
ernment are  too  high,  and  party  is  too  low.  .'^  Party  is 
reduced  to  the  level  of  an  electoral  contrivance,  to  man- 
age the  elections  and  to  win  their  prizes.- 

185.  This  state  of  things  will  appear  still  more  evident  Contribu- 
if  we  enquire  more  closely  into  what  has  become  of  the  *^°"  °^  P^'^y 

,  ,  .  ,  ,  .  to  the  decay 

element  which,  under  representative  government  com-  of  leader- 
bined  with  the  party  system,  constitutes  its  moving  ship, 
power  —  political  leadership.  Real  leadership  can  be 
obtained  in  a  political  community  only  on  four  essen- 
tial conditions :  the  men  capable  of  exercising  the  leader- 
ship must  have  easy  access  to  public  life ;  these  men  who 
are  allowed  political  influence  must  assume  the  respon- 
sibility attaching  to  it;  for  this  responsibility  to  be  a 
reality  it  must  be  enforced  by  proper  control;  to  be 
efficacious  the  action  of  the  leaders  must  be  sure  of  con- 
tinuity. Now,  under  the  caucus  regime,  ideas,  con- 
victions, character,  alike  disqualify  a  man  for  public  life; 
they  make  him,  to  use  the  regular  expression,  "unavail- 
able." The  party  Organization  always  gives  the  pref- 
erence to  colourless,  weak,  easily  managed  men.  In 
any  event  its  assent,  its  visa,  is  required  for  entering 
public  life.  And  if  men,  even  the  most  distinguished, 
aspired  to  lead  from  outside  the  ranks  of  officialism, 
they  would  again  be  stopped  by  the  caucus  regime, 


^ 


388 


DEMOCRACY    AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Unfavour- 
able social 
conditions. 


Leaders 
shirk  re- 
sponsibility. 


unless  content  to  act  through  the  Press.  If,  in 
theory,  the  first  duty  of  a  leader  consists  in  giving  his 
adherents  ideas,  his  first  and  only  duty,  in  the  United 
States,  is  to  give  them  places.  To  be  able  to  bestow 
these  he  must  have  some  sort  of  hold  over  the  party 
machinery.     One  is  therefore  in  a  vicious  circle. 

The  social  conditions  of  American  life  aggravate  the 
situation.  The  steady  growth  of  the  large  cities  and  the 
social  and  economic  differentiation  at  work  in  them 
prevent  men  capable  of  leading  from  making  themselves 
known  and  from  getting  accepted  over  the  heads  of  the 
politicians.  The  levelling  spirit  with  which  the  Ameri- 
can appears  to  be  imbued  does  not,  again,  create  an  at- 
mosphere very  favourable  to  the  development  of  leader- 
ship. It  would,  no  doubt,  be  rash  to  maintain  that 
natural  superiority,  such  as  springs  from  character 
and  intelligence,  is  disregarded  in  the  United  States; 
it  is  just  as  much  appreciated  there  as  anywhere 
else.  But  the  Americans  are  in  no  way  a  "deferential 
people,  politically  deferential,"  after  the  heart  of  the 
Bagehots.  Even  deference  in  general  —  except  to 
women  —  is  much  less  developed  among  them  than  in 
the  communities  of  the  Old  World,  steeped  in  hier- 
archical traditions.  Moreover,  the  natural  leaders,  of 
whom  American  society  has  a  potential  supply,  abstain 
from  assuming  political  leadership;  they  shirk  the 
service  of  the  commonwealth  from  selfish  motives. 

1 86.  Again,  the  men  who  have  entered  the  official 
sphere  of  public  life  shrink  from  asserting  their  political 
individuality  there;  they  have  not  the  courage  of  their 
convictions,  if  they  possess  any;  they  avoid  taking  up 
a  decided  line  in  the  clash  of  opinion ;  they  are  always 


SUMMARY  389 

"  non-committal/'  for  fear  of  compromising  themselves 
and  from  a  wish  to  be  "  safe."  The  unreasoning  dis- 
cipline of  party,  and  the  innumerable  concessions  and 
humiliations  through  which  it  drags  every  aspirant  to  a 
public  post,  have  enfeebled  the  will  of  men  in  politics, 
have  destroyed  their  ceurage  and  independence  of 
mind,  and  almost  obliterated  their  dignity  as  human 
beings.^  The  sign  of  the  party  is  their  conscience,  when 
there  are  no  powerful  private  interests  that  have  prece- 
dence ;  the  waves  of  popular  feeling  are  their  compass. 
Along  the  whole  line,  public  life  evolves  leaders  who 
do  not  lead,  who  deliberately  put  in  practice  the  well- 
known  saying :  "  I  am  their  leader,  I  must  follow  them." 

The  public  man  loses  heart  and  shirks  responsibility  Responsi- 
all  the  more  readily  that  there  is  hardly  any  one  to  keep  ^^'*^^  "^* 
him  up  to  the  mark.  The  party  committees  do  not  care 
much  about  the  doings  of  the  representatives  provided 
they  do  not  kick  against  the  party  and  the  Organization. 
The  public  pays  still  less  attention  to  them.  The  citizen 
who  has  been  wrought  into  a  paroxysm  of  excitement  by 
the  elections  sinks  into  apathy  immediately  afterwards, 
and  takes  no  interest  in  the  way  in  which  his  represent- 
atives discharge  their  trust.  Again,  the  seats  are  held  for 
a  short  time,  two  years  or  one.  If  the  member  has  not 
justified  the  confidence  of  the  electors,  the  remedy  lies 
ready  to  hand:  his  term  will  come  to  an  end  very 
shortly;   is  it  worth  while  to  arraign  him  and  to  lose 

^  A  story,  probably  invented,  but  characteristic,  is  related  of  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  who  was  told  by  the  leaders  of  the  party 
Organization  of  his  State,  that  it  was  time  for  him,  now  that  he  was 
a  Senator,  to  do  the  correct  thing  as  regards  his  family  life  and  get 
married.  The  new  Senator  declared  that  if  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee agreed  upon  a  lady,  he  would  marry  her. 


390 


DEMOCRACY    AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Leadership 
not  sure  of 
continuity. 


through  him  one's  peace  of  mind  and,  above  all,  one's 
time,  of  which  one  never  has  too  much  for  one's  busi- 
ness? It  follows  that  the  citizen  is  not  angry  enough 
with  the  wrongdoers  and  does  not  sufficiently  appreciate 
the  well-doers.  It  follows  again  that  if  the  former  easily 
escape  deserved  reprobation,  the  latter  find  it  difficult 
to  come  out  of  the  ruck  and  to  command  acceptance  as 
guides  and  leaders. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  general  rule  does  not  allow 
of  continuity  in  the  public  service.  Exceptions  apart, 
prominent  public  men  are  sent  back  into  private  life 
when  they  are  still  in  their  prime  and  in  full  possession 
of  their  powers.  The  principle  of  rotation  in  office,  the 
impossibility  of  entering  or  re-entering  public  life  save 
by  the  narrow  and  single  door  of  the  constituency  of 
residence,  the  necessity  and  the  difficulty  of  keeping  in 
the  good  graces  of  the  local  organization  of  the  party, 
and,'  also,  the  competition  of  more  lucrative  private 
callings,  are  all  so  many  reasons  which  militate  against 
a  man  holding  a  public  position  for  long.  With  his 
official  rank  a  man  loses  all  political  influence;  he  is  in- 
variably "side-tracked,"  as  the  saying  goes.  No  one 
pays  any  more  attention  to  him,  even  if  he  has  filled  a 
post  as  exalted  as  the  Presidency  of  the  Republic.  In 
the  great  majority  of  cases  his  political  opinions  would 
not  carry  much  weight,  and  his  personal  recommenda- 
tions still  less;  he  could  not,  unless  on  good  terms 
with  the  local  Machine,  get  a  village  postmaster  ap- 
pointed. This  is  at  least  as  true  of  the  men  who  have 
filled  less  important  positions ;  their  authority  has  been 
reduced  by  the  caucus  regime  in  a  still  more  palpable 
way  to  the  power  of  providing  the  loaves  and  fishes. 


Political 
i  ormalism 
( leveloped 

)y  party. 


SUMMARY  391 

Thus,  under  the  action  of  which  the  party  regime  was 
the  principal  instrument,  the  race  of  leaders  has  de- 
cayed in  the  political  society  of  America. 

187.  Party  has  not  achieved  more  success  in  its 
fundamental  duty,  which  consists  in  organizing  public 
opinion,  in  giving  it  expression.  The  caucus  has  rather 
deformed  it  by  forcing  it  into  the  groove  of  the  stereo- 
typed parties.  The  convention  of  *' regular"  candida- 
tures has  made  external  conformity  the  sole  criterion/ 
which  dispensed  with  private  judgment  and  individual  j 
responsibility.  Henceforth  even  a  "yellow  dog"  had  to 
be  voted  for,  once  he  was  put  on  the  party  ticket.  The 
ticket  could  not  be  meddled  with  on  pain  of  sacrilege,  the 
party  had  become  an  object  of  fetich  worship ;  tlie  man 
who  diverged  from  his  party  was  a  "kicker,"  a  sort  of 
public  malefactor,  whereas  he  who  followed  the  party 
with  his  eyes  shut  was  a  "  patriotic  citizen."  The  fear  of  Political 
not  being  regular,  of  appearing  heterodox  and  schismat-  cowardice 
ical,  developed  in  the  citizen  that  deference  to  the  world's 
opinion,  that  fatalistic  submission  which  makes  a  man 
lose  himself  in  the  crowd  in  a  humble  and  even  cowardly 
fashion.  Civic  courage  shrivelled  up  in  this  atmosphere 
like  a  body  exposed  to  the  cold.  No  one  ventured  to  raise 
his  voice  and  protest  loud  enough.  Even  the  victims 
of  the  pirates  of  the  Machine,  the  gagged  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  the  companies  blackmailed  by  the 
bosses,  preferred  to  submit  and  hold  their  peace,  rather 
than  appeal  to  the  public.  The  interest  which  they 
believed  they  had  in  holding  aloof,  their  selfish  coward- 
ice, found  an  excuse  in  the  exigencies  of  party.  Respect 
for  the  convention  of  party,  for  form,  was  too  strong 
even  for  citizens  of  perfectly  independent  means  and 


392  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

unimpeachable  honesty;  their  party  loyalty  inspired 
them  with  infinite  indulgence  for  those  pirates  who 
chose  to  hoist  the  party  flag.  Acquiescence  in  abuses, 
tolerance  of  political  corruption,  spread  like  a  noxious 
vapour. 

Political  formalism  soon  led  from  tolerance  of  the 
evil  to  connivance  at  it.  ''Regularity"  being  the  first 
^consideration,  and  the  triumph  of  the  ticket  being  the 
supreme  object,  the  means  necessary  to  compass  that 
object  were  of  no  consequence,  the  end  justified  them; 
and  electoral  corruption  took  root  and  spread  with  the 
connivance  and  the  pecuniary  assistance  of  citizens 
who  in  their  private  life  were  incapable  of  the  slightest 
impropriety. 
Party  i^^-   ^ut  has   not   this  political  formalism,  which 

organization  curbed  the  individual,  cemented  the  edifice  of  the 
and  a  brake  American  Republic,  and  has  it  not  preserved  that 
for  the  new  edifice  from  the  storms  and  tempests  which  a  democ- 
nation.  racy,  essentially  unstable,  is  supposed  to  be  so  prone 

to  let  loose  ?  Has  it  not  prevented  the  overflow  of  pop- 
ular passion,  caprice,  and  infatuation  by  conducting 
all  the  currents  of  political  feeling  into  the  bed  of 
organized  parties,  and  by  keeping  there,  through  the 
fK  discipline  which  it  maintained,  the  various  elements 

borne  along  with  them?  When  one  thinks  of  this  po- 
litical community  of  the  United  States,  young,  exuberant, 
composed  of  incongruous  elements,  almost  without, a 
past,  with  no  traditions,  with  more  will  and  ardour  than 
ballast,  a  society  representing  in  truth  a  world  in  a  state 
of  ebullition,  it  is  impossible  to  gainsay  the  regulating 
function  which  party  discipline  must  have  discharged 
there  and  the  services  which  it  must  have  rendered. 


SUMMARY  393 

It  is  impossible  not  to  admit  that  this  discipline  has  been 
one  of  the  factors  of  the  moral  force  which  brought  and 
kept  together  the  populations  of  the  New  World  with 
a  power  much  greater  than  that  of  the  brute  force  which 
founded  the  empires  of  the  Old  World. 

Yet  if  party  Organization  served  in  the  American  Proved 
Republic  as  a  brake,  it  proved  also,  and  above  all,  a  re-  ^^^?  ^  ""^ 

^  ^  actionary 

actionary  force.  Having  repressed  the  individual  too  force, 
much,  it  shackled  the  public  mind,  and  all  the  more 
effectively  that  its  free  play  was  already  restricted  by  the 
mercantile  spirit  of  the  nation  and  by  the  written  instru- 
ment of  the  Constitution.  A  commercial  community  is, 
by  its  nature,  more  prone  to  conservatism  than  is  expe- 
dient for  its  proper  development.  The  American  Consti- 
tution, in  its  turn,  put  a  premium  on  immobility  in  the 
social  and  political  spheres.  Its  framers,  full  of  distrust 
of  the  people  and  anxious  to  keep  advanced  democracy 
out  of  power,  had,  by  the  innumerable  precautions 
which  they  introduced,  made  all  constitutional  change 
extremely  difficult.  Political  changes  proposed  for  the 
remedy  of  crying  evils,  such  as  were  disclosed,  for  in- 
stance, by  the  method  in  force  for  the  election  of  the 
President,  for  the  choice  of  the  presidential  electors,  or 
of  the  United  States  Senators,  have  not  been  able  to  pass 
in  spite  of  efforts  repeatedly  made  throughout  a  whole 
century. 

189.    To  immobility  of  political  forms  in  the  State  Prevented 
the  stereotyped  party  Organization  tended  to  add  im-  ^^^^  P^^y 
mobility  of  mind  in  political  society.     To  preserve  its  {jc  m!nd? 
fabric,  the  Organization  was  always  trying  to  prevent 
the  new  currents  of  public  feeling  from  gathering  volume 
and  flowing  into  fresh  channels.     For  more  than  twenty 


394  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE    PARTY   SYSTEM 

years  before  the  Civil  War,  it  prevented  the  slavery 
question  from  being  openly  raised  and  honestly  ex- 
amined. After  the  war,  it  juggled  with  the  financial 
question ;  it  kept  alive  for  years  together,  simply  for  the 
requirements  of  its  business,  the  rancour  of  old  ani- 
mosities and  the  fear  of  past  dangers;  or  again,  en- 
forced the  maintenance  of  an  ultra-Protectionism,  ih 
spite  of  the  secret  convictions  of  many  of  its  members,  by 
means  of  party  discipline  and  by  the  purchase  of  votes 
with  the  "fat"  provided  by  the  manufacturers.  Party 
formalism  thus  puts  obstacles  in  the  path  of  progress 
and  creates  dangers  to  the  healthy  development  of  po- 
litical life,  the  gravity  of  which  increases  in  proportion 
as  the  nation  grows  older;  it  is  paving  the  way  for  a 
reaction  in  an  anti-conservative  direction,  of  which  the 
politico-social  movements  in  recent  years,  such  as  Popu- 
lism, "Bryanism,"  Socialism,  are  warnings  resembling 
the  mutterings  of  a  coming  storm. 
Set  up  a  While  usually  keeping  opinion,  by  main  force  so  to 

factitious  speak,  within  the  old  grooves,  the  party  Organization 
at  other  times  drove  it  as  violently  into  new  courses  full  of 
dangers,  when  it  saw  any  profit  therein  for  itself.  Thus, 
■*  within  recent  time,  we  have  seen  the  Democratic 
Organization  take  up  on  its  own  account  the  cause  of  the 
Silverites  and  deliver  to  them  the  party  bound  hand  and 
foot,  and  a  number  of  Democrats  fall  into  line  solely  out 
of  deference  to  "regularity."  The  wild  schemes  of  the 
champions  of  free  coinage  thus  appeared  to  be  more 
strongly  supported  by  public  opinion  than  they  were  in 
reality. 

In  this  way  there  came  to  be  established  a  dif- 
ference between  public  opinion  and  the  opinion  of  the 


opinion. 


SUMAIARY  395 

parties,  which  should  be  but  the  mirror  of  the  former. 
To  assert  itself,  the  real,  the  independent  opinion  had  to 
rise  in  revolt.  It  could  not,  however,  do  so,  except  in 
an  intermittent  fashion.  Confined  by  the  Organiza- 
tion like  a  river  between  banks  of  sand,  opinion 
must  be  lashed  into  a  storm  of  anger  to  break  through 
these  embankments.  Mad  with  rage,  it  rises  up  to 
wreak  vengeance.  Yet  the  power,  that  opinion  exerts  Repressive 
on  such    occasions    is    a   power  of    repression    only,   and  pre- 

rx^i  .  n  .  1      .       1        1  •   1  ventive 

The  preventive  power,  which  is  the  highest  expres-  power  of 
sion  —  the   ideal,   if    the    word  is  preferred  —  of  free  opinion, 
communities,  is  debarred  from  asserting  itself :  the  all- 
engrossing  desire  to  make  money  aiding  and  abetting, 
political  formalism  lulls  the  ceaseless  vigilance  on  which 
that  power  rests. 

190.   Thus  the  caucus  regime  has  not  allowed  party  \Party 
to  discharge  any  of  its  legitimate  functions,  either  in  the  PJ"o"^oted 
constitutional  or  in  the  extra-constitutional  sphere.     By  |of  ptu- 
reducing  party  to  an  instrument  of  organization  pure  ^^^' 
and  simple,  the  caucus  left  it  no  end  tp-s^rve  but  itself.  )       ^ 
Pope's  famous  definition  of  party  —    The  madness  of 
jthe_nmiiy_f orjhe ^ain  of  the  few"  — received  a  most 
humiliating  application  in  the  spoils  system.     To  hu- 
miliation was  added  ignominy,  when  the  party  Organi- 
zation brought  in  the  moneyed  men  among  those  "few." 
It  smoothed  the  path  for  what  is  called  plutocracy. 

The  mere  fact  of  the  existence  of  large  fortunes 
concentrated  in  a  few  hands  is  of  itself  a  source  of  per- 
manent demoralization  in  society :  it  belittles  unassum- 
ing and  honest  work ;  it  gives  the  rein  to  desires  and  ap- 
petites ;  it  makes  the  pursuit  of  wealth  the  highest  aim, 
the  ideal  of  life,  and  drives  all  other  aspirations  out  of 


396  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE    PARTY    SYSTEM 

the  human  mind.  One  knows  how  rapid  and  enormous 
has  been  the  concentration  of  capital  in  the  United  States 
since  the  Civil  War/  But  the  realization  of  these  co- 
lossal fortunes  and  fabulous  incomes  was  not,  and 
could  not  be,  due  solely  to  the  free  play  of  natural 
forces.  More  often  than  not  this  free  play  has  been 
perverted  for  the  benefit  of  the  corporations  by  the  com- 
plaisance or  by  the  connivance  of  the  public  authorities. 
From  the  municipal  franchises  up  to  the  ultra- Protection- 
ist customs  tariff,  the  authorities  surrendered  to  a  few 
what  belonged  to  all.  The  corporations  bought  legis- 
lation, "protection,"  and  favours  of  every  kind,  whole- 
sale and  retail ;  rich  men  bought  seats  in  the  highest  leg- 
islative assembly  more  or  less  disguisedly,  obtained  seats 
in  the  Cabinet,  ambassadorships.  It  seemed  as  if 
nothing  could  resist  the  well-filled  purse;  money  became 
king  in  the  Republic  to  such  an  extent  as  to  suggest  the 
well-known  saying  recorded  by  Sallust  :  Urbs  venalis 
et  mature  perihira,  si  emptorem  invenerit.  Jugurtha's 
remark,  although  based  on  experience,  was  never- 
theless an  exaggeration,  as  the  Numidian  eventually 
learned  to  his  cost.  Members  of  a  degenerate  ruling 
class,  high  dignitaries  of  State,  nay,  even  tribunes 
of  the  people  might  be  bought;  but  how  was  it 
possible  to  buy  the  people  itself,  a  whole  sovereign 
people?  Party  Organization  in  the  United  States  sup- 
plied the  answer :  all  the  corrupters  who  try  to  bend  the 
power  of  the  State  to  their  own  selfish  ends  have  but  to 
identify  their  interests  with  those  of  the  party  Organiza- 
tion which  is  conscience-keeper  to  the  members  of  the 

^  Before  the  war  there  were   not  more  than  three   millionaires  in 
the  whole  Union;   at  the  present  day  there  are  many  thousands. 


SUMMARY  397 

sovereign  demos ;  they  have  only  to  become  its  financial 
supporters.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  party  Organiza- 
tion has  served  as  a  lever  to  all  great  private  interests 
in  their  designs  on  the  public  weal,  which  have  assumed 
so  many  aspects  in  the  last  forty  years,  and  especially  to 
the  Protectionist  tariff,  this  arch-corrupter  of  the  Repub- 
lic. Without  that  intermediary  the  Protectionists,  the  • 
several  corporations  and  the  other  more  or  less  fraudu- 
lent recipients  of  political  favours  could  not  have  at- 
tained the  object  of  their  desires ;  they  could  not  have 
got  the  better  either  of  the  electoral  body,  the  great 
majority  of  whom  are  certainly  honest,  or  even  of  their 
representatives,  who  are  very  far  from  being  all  venal. 
The  reader  will  remember  the  remark  of  the  New  York 
legislator:  "I  want  to  be  honest,  and  I  am  honest;  but 
I  am  the  slave  of  the  Organization." 

191.   The  people  apprehended  the  problem  of  the  Economic 
money  power  mainly  in  its  economic  aspect  of  accumu-  ^^ects  of 

-,      .  r  11  1*1  -1  1        •  •        •  ^"^  money 

lation  of  wealth,  which  strikes  the  imagination  more  power  ap- 
easily,  and  set  themselves  down  as  the  victims  of  a  prehended 
frightful  economic  oppression.  In  reality  it  was  not  so 
much  as  taxpayers  and  consumers  that  they  were  the 
victims  of  capitalists,  the  gigantic  concentration  of  in- 
dustry enabled  a  few  men  to  grow  rich  by  an  infinitesi- 
mal illicit  toll  on  each  member  of  the  community  at  large. 
In  any  event,  people  did  not  sufficiently  realize  the  fact, 
at  least  till  most  recent  times,  that  the  economic  monopo- 
lists were  supported  and  helped  up  by  the  political 
monopolists,  by  the  holders  of  the  electoral  monopoly 
which  the  people  themselves  had  handed  over  to  the 
party  Organization.  With  childlike  rage  they  fastened 
violently  on  the  external  effect  without  scrutinizing  its 


398 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE    PARTY    SYSTEM 


Plutocracy 
develops 
the  power 
of  the 
Machine. 


Why  the 

people 

acquiesced. 


cause,  which  is  less  obvious.  In  a  number  of  States  the 
people  have  had  special  laws  passed  against  trusts,  which 
have  remained  a  dead  letter  because  they  were  not  en- 
forceable or  because  they  were  not  enforced  by  public 
authorities  under  the  thumb  of  the  plutocrats. 

While  plutocracy,  fortified  by  the  party  Machine, 
was  thus  degrading  the  commonwealth,  it  developed, 
in  its  turn,  the  power  of  the  Machine.  It  supplied 
the  Machine  with  most  of  its  resources  and  enabled 
it  to  take  a  fresh  flight.  It  gave  a  most  powerful  im- 
pulse to  that  oligarchic  or  autocratic  government  of 
rings  and  bosses  which  party  allowed  to  grow  up  in 
its  midst.  In  all  the  States,  where  the  industrial  and 
financial  corporations  are  numerous,  not  to  speak  of 
the  United  States  Senate,  the  Machine  and  the  boss,  fed 
with  their  money  as  with  a  sap,  flourish  like  a  luxuriant 
plant  that  overshadows  the  whole  of  public  life.  In 
those  States  where  the  Machine  is  supreme,  republican 
institutions  are  in  truth  but  an  idle  form,  a  plaything 
wherewith  to  beguile  children.  It  may  be  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  bosses  is  not,  administratively  speaking, 
more  ruinous  for  the  people  than  plutocracy  is  oppres- 
sive for  them  from  the  economic  standpoint.  But  both 
of  them  eat  out  the  heart  of  the  commonwealth.  It  is 
no  longer  "a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people." 

192.  Thus  the  evolution  of  American  democracy  has 
produced  two  facts  of  the  utmost  gravity :  popular  gov- 
ernment has  slipped  away  from  the  people,  and  com- 
mercialism in  its  most  sordid  aspect  has  laid  hands  on 
the  government.  / 

How  is  it  that  the  people  have  allowed  themselves  to 


SUMMARY  399 

be  despoiled  in  this  fashion  ?  How  has  it  been  possible 
to  get  the  better  of  this  American  nation  which  has  pre- 
sented the  admirable  spectacle  of  a  creative  force,  of  an 
indomitable  energy,  of  a  tenacious  will  that  has  no  paral- 
lel ?  The  explanation  is  a  simple  one :  the  people  have 
expended  all  their  moral  strength  in  the  material  building- 
up  of  the  commonwealth.  In  that  new  world  which 
was  a  mine  of  untold  riches  for  whoever  cared  to  work 
it,  material  preoccupations  have  engrossed  the  Ameri-  . 

can's  whole  being.     "To  make  money"  appeared  to  Absorbed       (/ 
him  as  the  destiny  of  man  on  earth,  and  the  raison  '^  "^^^^"8 

■^  '  money. 

d'etre  of  a  well-ordered  commonwealth  was  thenceforth, 
in  his  eyes,  to  promote  the  fulfilment  of  that  destiny. 
The  notion  of  the  moral  objects  of  the  State  grew  dim 
in  the  public  mind,  the  State  was  asked  only  to  ensure 
or  assist  the  production  of  wealth.  Material  prosperity^ 
being  the  sole  aim  of  the  commonwealth,  just  as  I  f'^. 
under  a  "good  tyrant,"  there  was  but  one  criterion,  in! 
everyday  life,  of  the  goodness  of  the  government  — 
the  cost  of  it ;  the  harm  which  a  bad  government  could 
do  was  brought  down  to  a  money  value.  If  the  losses 
resulting  therefrom  to  the  citizen  were  not  too  serious, 
he  was  quite  ready  to  bear  them,  were  it  only  to  save 
himself  the  worry  and  the  trouble  required  for  their  pre- 
vention. The  exceptional  facility  with  which  "  money 
was  made"  in  the  New  World  developed  a  tendency  to 
"live  and  let  live,"  and  to  apply  freelythe  old  formula, 
de  minimis  prcetor  non  curat. 

But,  even  if  they  adopt  the  narrow  standpoint  of  ma- 
terial prosperity,  ought  not  the  Americans  to  foresee 
that  this  prosperity  must  in  the  long  run  be  affected  by 
the  political  disorders,  that  sooner  or  later  the  penalty 


400  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

will  be  paid  for  them,  even  in  a  purely  material  form  ? 
Short  views.  Of  all  races  in  an  advanced  stage  of  civilization,  the 
American  is  the  least  accessible_to  long  views^  The 
bomidless  horizon  of  the  continent  and  the  resources  of 
its  virgin  territory  enable  the  American  to  turn  the 
latter  to  account  in  the  manner  of  an  extensive  rather 
than  an  intensive  cultivation,  not  to  say  of  a  predatory 
type  of  exploitation.  The  eminently  speculative  mind 
of  the  American,  due  perhaps  to  the  facility  afforded  by 
the  New  World  for  getting  a  quick  return  from  every- 
thing, impels  him  again  to  take  the  path  which  leads  to 
large  immediate  results.  Always  and  everywhere  in 
a  hurry  to  get  rich,  he  does  not  give  a  thought  to  remote 
consequences;  he  sees  only  present  advantages.  He  is 
pre-eminently  the  man  of  short  views,  views  which  are 
often  **big"  in  point  of  conception  or  of  greed,  but 
necessarily  short. 
Boundless  193-   This  epicureanism  sui  generis  of  the  American, 

optimism.  which  bids  him  enjoy  tfie' present  without  troubling 
about  the  future,  is  naturally  completed  by  a  robust 
optimism  which  looks  on  all  difficulties  and  all  evils  as 
transitory.  The  economic  conditions  which  gave  rise 
to  this  feeling  have,  in  the  course  of  American  history, 
afforded  ample  justification  for  and  made  a  truism  of 
the  favourite  remark  which  I  have  already  quoted,  "  It 
will  right  itself."  In  fact,  the  Americans  have  passed 
through  many  a  serious  crisis,  often  caused  by  their 
want  of  forethought  and  the  extravagance  of  their 
financial  administration,  but  they  have  always  come  out 
of  them  unharmed,  thanks  to  the  abundant  resources  of 
their  country  and  to  the  extraordinary  luck  which  they 
met  with   at  the   most   trying   moments.     Brilliantly 


SUMMARY  401 

justified  by  events,  optimism  is  not  only  a  general  ten- 
dency, but  almost  a  national  religion.  Next  to  the  "  un- 
practical man,"  there  is  no  one  held  in  such  contempt  as 
a  "pessimist."  He  is  almost  his  country's  enemy,  he 
defiles  the  spring  at  which  the  community  imbibes 
strength  for  fresh  efforts  in  the  daily  battle  of  life.  The 
objector,  the  censor  of  abuses,  is  therefore  always  in  bad 
odour :  he  is  pre-eminently  a  pessimist.  "  A  man  with 
a  grievance  "  is  odious ;  like  the  whining  youth  who  com- 
plains of  his  schoolfellows,  he  only  shows  his  weakness 
of  character;  is  there  not  room  for  every  one  in  this 
favoured  land  of  America?  why  does  he  button-hole 
busy  people  and  seek  to  interrupt  the  march  of  time? 
what  is  the  good  of  his  recriminations  about  the  past? 
yesterday  has  gone  by,  it  is  already  far  off.  Wedded 
to  the  present,  the  American  possesses  a  singular  power 
of  forgetfulness;  the  events  of  the  day  before  are  to  him 
ancient  history.  Confident  in  the  future,  he  exhibits  a 
remarkable  endurance  of  present  evils,  a  submissive  pa- 
tience which  is  ready  to  forego  not  only  the  rights  of  the 
citizen,  but  sometimes  the  rights  of  man.  He  does  not  re- 
member, he  does  not  feel,  he  lives  in  a  materialist  dream. 

194.   It  by  no  means  follows,  however,  that  higher  Material 
aspirations  are  wanting  to  the  American.     It  would  be  aspirations 
a  gross  mistake  to  set  down  Americans  as  incapable  of  American 
idealism ;   they  have  an  ample  store  of  it  in  their  com-  patriotism, 
position,  engrossed  as  they  appear  to  be  in  the  pursuit  of 
the  dollar  —  but  up  to  the  present  they  have  made  only 
a  special  use  of  it  in  public  life.     A  brilliant  writer 
has  remarked  that  the  Jews  have  put  all  their  idealism 
into  religion.^     Whether  this  view  is  quite  correct  or  not, 

*  Anatole  Leroy-Beaulieu,  Israel  chez  les  nations. 

2D 


402  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

it  might  be  said,  with  at  least  as  much  truth,  that  the 
Americans  have  put  all  their  idealism  into  American 
nationality,  into  the  country  that  is  theirs.  That  coun- 
try did  not  represent,  as  with  the  nations  of  the  Old 
World,  a  community  of  sentiments  accumulated  for 
centuries  and  forming  a  treasure  peculiar  to  itself.  The 
"people  of  the  United  States,"  created  by  the  Federal 
Constitution,  had  no  language,  religion,  or  past  of 
its  own,  not  even  political  ideas  of  its  own.  The 
Republic  was  created  out  of  several  pieces  with 
infinite  pains,  it  was  wrested  "by  grinding  necessi- 
ties from  a  reluctant  people,"  and  for  a  long  time  after- 
wards each  section  pulled  in  a  different  direction.  The 
national  sentiment  which  had  not  the  opportunity  to 
develop  in  time  developed  in  space.  There  the  new 
nation  unfolded  its  genius :  it  has,  as  it  were,  brought 
a  whole  continent  out  of  nothingness ;  and  each  strip  of 
ground  ''reclaimed  from  the  wilderness"  demonstrated 
its  vitality,  made  it  conscious  of  its  strength.  The  in- 
/  tegrity  of  the  territory  became  the  essential  mark  of  the 

Cult  of  the  moral  unity  of  the  nation,  the  proof  of  its  life.  Ameri- 
can patriots  felt  that  this  life  depended  on  the  material 
ties  which  knit  together  the  pieces  and  the  fragments  out 
of  which  the  federation  had  been  made.  The  Americans, 
therefore,  have  put  their  whole  soul  into  the  Union. 
The  remark  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  them,  of  one  who 
embodied  the  genius  of  the  nation  most  forcibly  and 
vividly,  Henry  Clay,  —  "If  any  one  desires  to  know  the 
leading  and  paramount  object  of  my  public  life,  the 
preservation  of  this  Union  will  furnish  him  the  key"  — 
this  remark  is  applicable  to  the  whole  nation  in  its  past 
and  in  its  present.     Its  greatness  and  its  shortcomings 


Union. 


SUMMARY  403 

would  be  unintelligible  otherwise.  The  idea  of  the 
Union  burned  within  the  breast  of  its  best  sons  like  a 
sacred  fire ;  it  purified  the  less  pure  heart  of  the  others. 
It  lifted  them  all,  in  one  and  the  same  movement,  above 
the  accidental  toward  the  eternal  and  the  infinite.  It 
was  the  sacred  legacy  which  the  mighty  dead  had 
bequeathed  to  the  survivors.  In  the  American 
Valhalla  the  departed  heroes  do  not  appear  to  be 
engaged,  as  in  the  paradise  of  Odin,  in  perpetual 
combat;  having  laid  aside  with  their  mortal  vesture 
their  rivalries  and  their  enmities,  all  of  them  hand  in 
hand,  Jackson  and  Clay,  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  Grant 
and  Greeley,  join  in  a  fervent  cry,  which  descends  to 
earth  like  a  message  from  above:  "The  Union!  It 
must  be  preserved !"  ^ 

195.   The  natural  features  of  the  continent  which  is  Pride  in 
coterminous  with  the  Union,  and  the  aspect  which  the  ^^^  natural 

r  11  •    1     1  1  n  .        resources 

creative  energy  of  man  lends  to  it  help  to  exalt  and  m-  and  beau- 
tensify  the  American  patriotism.     The  citizen  of  the  ties. 
New  World  revels  in  the  perpetual  battle  which  he  has  1 

to  fight  to  gain  and  keep  its  possession,  to  subdue  the 
forces  of  nature  to  his  will ;  he  swells  with  enthusiasm, 
which  is  not  all  hope  of  material  results;  his  imagina- 
tion contributes  a  great  deal  thereto,  through  the  con- 
templation of  the  greatness  of  the  effort ;  but  it  ascribes 
this  greatness  to  the  American  even  more  than  to  the 
man,  it  merges  the  latter  in  the  former.  So  with  the 
natural  beauties  and  resources  of  the  continent. 
The  great  lakes,  the  immense  rivers,  the  vast  forests, 
the  boundless  prairies,  the  fertile  soil,  the  invigorating 
climate,  have  been  allotted  by  a  just  and  far-seeing 

*  Jackson's  celebrated  toast. 


404  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

Providence  to  the  Americans,  like  Canaan  to  the 
chosen  people;  the  majesty  of  this  nature  does  but 
express  in  a  material  form  the  majesty  of  the  American 
people;  the  Falls  of  Niagara  were  created  by  the 
Eternal  to  testify  to  the  American  genius  in  ages  to 
come.  "America  is  written  all  over  the  Falls,"  writes 
a  celebrated  journalist  (Samuel  Bowles),  on  a  visit  to 
Niagara.  "  Its  roar  is  that  of  the  nation.  Its  majestic 
sweep  typifies  the  grand  progress  of  America.  The 
maddening,  dashing,  seething,  buffing,  pitching,  un- 
easy flood  typifies  the  intensity  of  the  American  mind 
and  the  vitality  of  American  action.  Here  is  the  foun- 
tain of  true,  young  America;  here  the  breast  which 
gives  it  milk;  here  the  nurture  which  gives  it  vitality.'* 
Creative  1 96.   Next  to  the  territory,  and  to  man  who  had 

force  of         improved  it,  a  third  element  went  towards  the  crea- 

liberty.  .  ,  ^  .  ,.,  t      •      r 

tion  of  contemporary  America  —  liberty.     It   is  from 

liberty  that  man  has  drawn  the  strength  with  which 
he  has  conquered  matter;  it  is  she  who  has  re- 
moved the  obstacles  in  his  path;  it  is  she  who  has 
opened  to  all,  down  to  the  humblest  members  of  the 
community,  equal  opportunities  in  the  "pursuit  of  hap- 
piness"; it  is  liberty  which  has  welded  the  component 
parts  of  the  Union;  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  world  an  amalgam  of  peoples,  of  races,  of  religions,  of 
tongues,  has  been  produced  otherwise  than  by  the  force 
of  arms,  and  that  motley  assemblage,  rivalling  the  con- 
fusion of  the  Tower  of  Babel,  has  formed  a  body  with 
a  soul,  under  the  life-giving  breath  of  the  principles  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  In  the  indictment 
that  was  once  brought  against  American  democracy 
by  Lecky  (in  his  Democracy  and  Liberty),  he  quotes, 


SUMMARY  405 

with  certain  reservations,  the  following  passage  from 
Ernest  Renan :  "  If  it  were  necessary  that  Italy,  with  her 
past,  or  America,  with  her  future,  should  be  blotted  out 
of  existence,  which  would  leave  the  greater  void  in  the 
breast  of  humanity?  What  has  all  America  produced 
that  can  compare  with  a  ray  of  that  infinite  glory  that 
adorns  an  Italian  town  of  the  second  or  third  order, 
Florence,  Pisa,  Siena,  Perugia?"  This  view,  though 
inspired  by  idealism,  is  due  to  a  narrow  conception  of 
the  ideal.  The  Most  High  dwelleth  not  only  in  Gothic 
cathedrals.  America  has  not  been  able  to  serve  the 
ideal  by  "le  grand  art,"  with  which  Renan  consoles 
himself  even  for  the  degradation  of  a  society  in  which 
it  can  be  enjoyed,  but  she  has  served  it  in  another  way. 
The  Declaration  of  American  Independence,  like  the 
Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  has  lifted  as  many 
souls  heavenward  as  have  all  the  monuments  of  Pisa  and 
Siena.  Like  the  French  Revolution,  America,  by  bring- 
ing good  tidings  to  the  world,  has  solaced  humanity 
for  a  space  and  has  filled  it  with  immense  hopes,  how- 
ever great  the  disappointments  and  disillusions  which 
the  future  had  in  store.  Besides,  the  moral  springs 
which  both  have  set  flowing  are  still  there,  and  it  is 
enough  to  be  willing  and  able  to  drink  at  them. 

197.   It  is  all  very  well  to  hold,  as  do  some  distin-  ideal  char- 
euished  writers,  with  every  appearance  of  reason,  that  ^^^^^  ^^ 

1       XT    •      1    f^  1         1  1  1  American 

the  United  States  has  been  not  so  much  a  democracy  nberty ; 
as  a  great  company  for  the  exploration  and  exploitation 
of  a  vast  territory,  offering  liberty  and  a  share  in  po- 
litical sovereignty  as  a  sort  of  bounty  to  the  workmen 
of  whom  the  uncultivated  New  World  stood  in  need. 
What  difference  in  the  value  of  the  effects  produced  is 


4o6  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

made  by  the  hidden  motives  of  the  acts  which  stir  the 
human  heart,  which  thrill  it  ?  Even  in  a  theatre  where 
everybody  is  aware  of  stage  convention,  does  the  spec- 
tator before  shedding  tears  over  the  corpse  of  Cordelia 
borne  by  King  Lear  ask  himself  what  were  the  inten- 
tions of  Shakespeare  or  those  of  the  theatrical  manager 
who  produced  the  play?  From  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
who  crossed  the  ocean  amid  storm  and  tempest  within 
the  frail  timbers  of  the  Mayflower ^  down  to  the  poor 
wretches  two  centuries  and  a  half  later,  penned  up  like 
cattle  in  the  emigrant  steamers,  all  journeyed  in 
quest  of  liberty,  without  always  understanding  it  as  we 
understand  it,  often  without  being  able  to  bring  a  clear 
definition  of  it  out  of  their  heavy-laden  hearts;  they 
went  in  search  of  it  as  towards  an  "unknown  God," 
and  they  found  that  God.  It  is  in  vain  that  good 
observers,  who  yet  dwell  too  much  on  the  surface  of 
things,  have  declared  that  "American  liberty  is  not  a 
mystic,  undefined  liberty;  it  is  a  special  liberty  corre- 
sponding to  the  special  genius  of  the  people  and  their 
special  mission;  it  is  a  liberty  of  work  and  locomotion 
of  which  the  American  takes  advantage  to  spread  over 
the  vast  territory  .  .  .  and  turn  it  to  profitable  ac- 
count." No,  it  was  a  mystic,  it  was  an  undefined 
liberty.  This,  too,  is  "written  over  the  Falls  of  Ni- 
agara": "And  then  the  rainbows  hovering  over  and 
about  the  scene,  do  they  not  signify  the  promise  which 
America  gives  to  mankind,  the  hope  which  it  implants 
in  weary-laden  hearts,  the  home  which  it  furnishes  to 
the  outcast  and  wanderer  from  governmental  oppres- 
sion and  social  villany  elsewhere?"  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, who  embodied  the  best  of  the  American  character, 


SIlOiARY  407 

did  not  view  the  stream  of  American  destiny  otherwise 
than  as  flowing  in  this  channel  of  universal  human 
liberty,  dug  by  the  authors  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence: such  was  "their  majestic  interpretation  of 
the  economy  of  the  universe.  ...  In  their  enlightened 
belief  nothing  stamped  with  the  divine  image  and  Hke- 
ness  was  sent  into  the  world  to  be  trodden  on  and  de- 
graded and  imbruted  by  its  fellows.  They  grasped 
not  only  the  whole  race  of  men  then  living,  but  they 
reached  forward  and  seized  upon  the  farthest  posterity. 
They  erected  a  beacon  to  guide  their  children,  and 
their  children's  children,  and  the  countless  myriads 
who  should  inhabit  the  earth  in  other  ages."  How  is 
it  that  the  work  of  the  "Fathers"  has  lasted?  "I  have 
often  inquired  of  myself,"  said  Lincoln,  "what  great 
principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  confederacy  so 
long  together.  It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  the 
separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  motherland,  but 
that  sentiment  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
which  gave  liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try, but,  I  hope,  to  the  world  for  all  future  time." 

198.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  while  granting  that  but  it  be- 
liberty  —  I  repeat,  a  mystic  and  undefined  liberty  —  is  came  ma- 
entitled  to  figure  in  the  American  escutcheon,  one 
must  admit  that  it  has  become  materialized  by  use. 
Having  served  not  to  beautify  an  old  home  but  to 
build  up  a  new  one,  as  it  were  with  bricks  and  mortar, 
it  has  almost  lost  its  spiritual  nature  in  this  rough 
handiwork.  That  first  nature  was  not  utterly  destroyed, 
but  it  was  etherealized ;  it  was  consigned  to  the  sphere 
of  a  national  cult  rising  above  the  cares  of  daily  life 
and  opening  to  men's  minds,  like  a  temple  to  the  faith- 


4o8 


DEMOCRACY   AND    THF    PARTY    SYSTEM 


Fetish-like 
worship 
of  country, 


and  of 
party. 


ful,  only  at  the  hour  of  prayer.  Ideal  liberty,  thus  con- 
tracted and  enshrined  in  the  halo  with  which  the  intoxi- 
cation of  material  successes  had  surrounded  the  image 
of  the  Union,  did  but  sanctify  the  national  pride  that 
was  inspired  by  these  successes;  it  did  but  develop 
that  patriotic  sensibility  which  absorbed  the  civic  con- 
science. The  inflated  national  sentiment  grew  more 
and  more  like  the  nationalist  enthusiasm  of  which, 
under  different  circumstances,  many  a  country  of  the 
Old  World  had  furnished,  or  still  furnishes,  an  ex- 
ample, and  which  makes  the  worship  of  country  a 
pagan  cult  from  which  the  living  God  is  absent.  In 
the  United  States  that  cult  found  its  dogmatic  formula 
in  the  cry:  "Our  country,  right  or  wrong!"  The 
American  citizen,  attracted  by  the  material  side  of 
things,  could  thenceforth  give  himself  up  to  it  with 
all  the  less  scruple  that  he  had  discharged  his  debt  to 
the  ideal  by  the  patriotic  sentiment  which  he  carried  in 
his  breast.  Yet  the  daily  course  of  public  life  demanded 
more  than  this  general  tribute,  it  claimed  the  per- 
formance of  regular  moral  duties  towards  the  common- 
wealth. The  busy  citizen  thereupon  found  new  re- 
sources by  providing  himself  with  a  patriotism  of  the 
second  degree,  that  of  party.  He  put  into  it  the  same 
fetishism  which  satisfied  his  idealist  requirements  at 
small  expense,  and  he  gave  to  it  the  same  dogmatic 
expression  as  to  his  worship  of  country  with  a  slight 
variation:  "My  party,  right  or  wrong!"  Invested 
with  a  more  ritual  character,  the  cult  of  party  enabled 
the  citizen  to  discharge  his  everyday  civic  obligations 
more  easily  with  the  outward  observances  of  devotion. 
199.  This  coarse  formalism  was  not  only  a  more  or 


SUMMARY  409 

less  unwitting  or  even   hypocritical  bargain  that  the  Cult  of 
citizen  made  with  his  conscience;  it  also  forced  itself  P^'^y 

,        .         r    1       A  •     aeveloped 

on  him  through  certam  special  tendencies  of  the  Amen-  by  religious 
can  character,  developed  by  religious  tradition  and  by  tradition, 
the  moral  position  of  the  individual  in  society.  The 
spirit  of  party,  like  that  of  fetishistic  patriotism,  is  made 
up  of  sectarian  contempt  and  dislike  for  those  who 
are  outside  the  fold,  and  of  mechanical  attachment 
to  those  who  are  inside.  The  Puritan  mind  which 
had  helped  to  mould  the  character  of  New  England 
bred  the  party  spirit.  Ebenezer  Webster,  the  father  of 
Daniel  Webster,  the  illustrious  statesman,  on  his  death- 
bed begged  not  to  be  left  to  die  in  a  non-Federalist  city.        ") 

The  second  factor  to  which  I   have  alluded,   and    ^^ 
which  impelled  the  American  to  herd  with  his  fellows!  by  the 
in  the  party  fold,  is  one  of  the  primordial  facts  on  hunger  for 

.  .   ,         .  ,       .     ,      .  .     ,       .     ,.1   fellowship, 

American  social  existence  —  the  isolation  of  the  mdi-  ^ 
vidual.  True,  nowhere  is  man  more  unfettered  in  his 
movements;  nowhere  can  the  individual  launch  forth 
more  freely;  nowhere  are  political  and,  to  all  appear- 
ances, social  barriers  brought  so  low  as  in  the  United 
States;  and  yet  nowhere  else  is  man  reduced  to  that 
atomic  condition,  so  to  speak,  in  which  he  finds  him- 
self on  the  western  side  of  the  Atlantic.  The  yoke  of 
locality  and  heredity,  heavily  as  it  weighs  on  the  deni- 
zen of  the  Old  World,  offers  him  at  the  same  time  a 
moral  support.  The  American  lives  morally  in  the 
vagueness  of  space;  he  is,  as  it  were,  suspended  in  the 
air,  he  has  no  fixed  groove.  The  levelled  society, 
without  traditions,  without  a  past,  in  which  he  lives, 
does  not  provide  him  with  one.  The  only  traditional 
social  groove  which  did  exist,  and  which  was  supplied 


4IO  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

by  the  churches,  has  been  almost  worn  down  by  the 
incessant  action  of  material  civilization  and  the  ad- 
vance of  knowledge.  To  construct,  or  wait  for  the 
construction  of,  new,  permanent  grooves,  the  American 
has  neither  the  time  nor  the  inclination.  Obeying  the 
national  genius  he  creates  mechanical  ones,  in  the  form 
of  associations,  as  numerous  and  varied  as  they  are 
'  superficial,  but  all  revealing  the  uneasiness  of  the 
American  mind  assailed  by  a  sort  of  fear  of  solitude 
i  and,  again,  by  the  desire  felt  by  the  individual  to  give 
himself  a  special  status  in  the  midst  of  the  community 
at  large.  Such  are  the  ''patriotic"  societies  of  Colonial 
Dames,  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution,  Sons  of  Veterans,  etc.,  which 
seek  to  bring  together  men  or  women  who  have  no  tie 
between  them  but  the  fact  of  descending  from  ances- 
tors closely  or  remotely  connected  with  historical 
events, 
by  the  ,  200.  The  great  mass  of  citizens  having  no  ancestors 
need  of  far-  create  a  small  world  for  themselves  in  the  so-called 
moraufes  secret  or  fraternal  societies.  These  organizations  often 
discharge  the  function  of  mutual  benefit  societies,  but 
they  are  not  less  appreciated  for  the  sentimental  gratifi- 
cations which  the  members  derive  from  their  "lodges," 
"tents,"  "  commanderies,"  "chapters,"  "temples," 
"conclaves."  A  workman  who  belongs  to  the  "An- 
cient and  Illustrious  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Malta  " 
spends  half  his  weekly  wages  in  buying  a  knight's 
sword,  which  will  give  him  the  illusion  of  being  really 
a  member  of  a  noble  brotherhood  whose  name  goes 
back  so  far  into  the  ages.  The  epithet  "ancient"  and 
the    historical    or    mythical  appellations   which    they 


SUMMARY  411 

adopt  for  their  societies  ^  enable  them  to  affirm,  in 
imagination,  their  collective  existence  even  in  the 
remotest  past.  The  mere  fact  of  having  a  trade  or  an 
occupation  or  even  an  external  peculiarity  in  common 
is  taken  as  a  pretext  for  pleasure  parties ;  such  are  the 
barbers'  picnics,  the  tailors'  excursions,  the  dinners  of 
men  weighing  more  than  fourteen  stone,  and  other 
gatherings  of  the  same  kind,  which  are  readily  put 
down  to  "American  eccentricity,"  but  which  in  the 
morbid  need  of  friendly  contact  that  they  reveal  have 
rather  something  pathetic  about  them.  In  America 
everything  is  done  in  a  crowd,  by  troops.  The  mania  '' 
for  being  introduced  to  all  comers  without  the  intro- 
duction leading  even  to  a  conversation;  the  apparent 
friendliness  with  which  every  one  is  received;  the  fa- 
cility with  which  people  who  hardly  know  each  other 
exchange  letters  of  introduction  which  do  not  bind  the 
addressees  to  anything  —  are  so  many  more  manifes- 
tations of  the  need  which  is  felt  of  procuring  at  least 
the  illusion  of  more  or  less  far-reaching  moral  ties. 

Party  filled  a  portion  of  the  moral  void:   it  met  an 
emotional  need ;  it  offered  a  groove  exclusive  enough  to  j 
permit  of  the  growth  of  genuine  or  conventional  feel-/ 
ings  of  hatred  and  devotion,  and  comprehensive  enough( 
to  unite  in  these  feelings  men  with  no  other  bond 
between  them,  and  even  dispersed  in  space.     Like  the 
ancient  Greek  who  found  in  the  most  distant  colonies 
his  national  deities  and  the  fire  from  the  sacred  hearth 
of  his  poliSj  the  American  finds  in  his  noniiadic  existence 

*  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians 
of  America,  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Ancient 
Arabic  Order  of  the  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine. 


412  DEMOCRACY   AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

everywhere,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from 
Maine  to  Florida,  a  Republican  organization  or  a  Demo- 
cratic organization,  which  recalls  him  to  himself,  gives 
him  a  countenance,  and  makes  him  repeat  with  pride 
the  cry  of  the  New  York  politician:  "I  am  a  Demo- 
crat," or  "I  am  a  Republican." 

Thus  idealism  itself,   in  its  degenerate  aspects  of 

patriotic,  political,  religious,  and  social  formalism,  has 

combined  with  the  materialistic  spirit  to  deaden  the 

civic  conscience  and  let  in  the  enemies  of  the  public 

weal.' 

The  havoc         20I.   Yet  the  havoc  wrought  by  the  invaders  being 

mitigated,      ^g  extensive  and  profound  as  we  have  seen  it  to  be, 

how  is  it  that  the  commonwealth  continues  to  prosper 

in  spite  of  this,  and  that  the  Republic  subsists,  at  least 

with  no  apparent  diminution  of  strength?     The  havoc 

is  no  doubt  very  considerable,  but  up  to  the  present  it 

has  had  only   a  relative   significance,   thanks  to  the 

exceptional   position   enjoyed   by   the   United   States. 

The  fact  we  have  ascertained,  that  the  government  has 

slipped  from  the  people,  loses  not  a  little  of  its  import 

when  one  bears  in  mind  how  small  is  the  place  which 

government  occupies  in  the  existence  of  the  New  World, 

R61e  of         how  limited  are  its  powers  and,  consequently,  its  means 

government    ^f  abusing  them.     The  inhabitants  of  the  American 

restrained.  " 

Republic  are  hardly  "governed";  a  citizen  may  spend 
his  whole  life  without  commg  in  contact  with  represent- 
atives of  the  government,  unless  he  breaks  the  laws, 
and  even  if  he  does  break  them.  The  functions  of 
government  are  not  numerous  or  very  complicated. 
Hence,  the  barbarous  method  of  recruiting  the  public 
service,  established  by  the  spoils  system,  has  not  done 


SUMMARY  413 

all  the  harm  which  it  would  have  done  in  a  country  of 
the  Old  World.  The  waste  and  plunder  of  public 
property  in  which  the  representatives  of  the  people  in- 
dulged were  mitigated  by  the  unbounded  resources  of  a 
virgin  country  and  by  its  growing  wealth. 

Lastly,  even  the  usurpation  of  power  by  the  bosses,  Usurping 
the  rings,  and  the  machines  did  not  entail  the  political  ^^ses  covet 

,  .  t       1        Ml        1        .  r  chiefly 

consequences  which  the  illegal  seizure  of  power  pro-  wealth, 
duces  in  the  countries  of  the  Old  World,  or  even  in 
Latin  America;  it  has  not  touched,  or  has  scarcely 
touched,  liberty.  Tocqueville  has  already  called  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  passions  of  the  American  people 
are  not  of  a  political,  but  of  a  commercial,  nature.  In 
that  world,  awaiting  cultivation,  the  love  of  power 
aims  less  at  men  than  at  things.  The  Caesar  called  for 
by  the  political  abdication  of  American  society,  en- 
grossed in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  emerged  in  the  same 
guise,  animated  with  the  same  instincts  and  the  same 
greed  of  gain.  To  satisfy  these  appetites,  even  when 
there  was  grafted  on  them  the  desire  to  sway  men's 
Wills,  it  was  enough  to  exploit  the  forms  of  liberty 
without  meddling  with  its  essence,  to  exploit  the  elec- 
toral regime. 

202.   Personal   liberty  was  not  less   shielded   from  Personal 
possible  encroachments  by  the  barriers  erected  by  the  '^^erty 

.  protected. 

Constitution.  The  rights  of  the  individual,  essential  to 
his  free  moral  and  material  development,  had  been 
formed  into  a  sacred  trust,  the  custody  of  which  was 
confided  to  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  courts  placed 
for  this  purpose  above  all  the  other  public  powers :  no 
police,  no  minister,  no  parliament  can  touch  them. 
The  strongest  and  cleverest  usurper  is  equally  power- 


414  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

less  to  overthrow  these  barriers;  all  he  can  attempt  is 
to  get  round  them.  Hence  we  have  seen  that  the 
political  autocrat  developed  by  the  party  regime,  the 
boss,  has  not  succeeded  in  attaining  the  position  of  the 
tyrant  of  the  Greek  cities  or  of  the  Italian  republics; 
he  is  an  autocrat  whose  power  is  wielded  in  a  some- 
what limited  sphere  of  public  life.  All  the  more  has 
this  autocracy  been  unable  to  increase  to  the  point 
of  taking  the  lead  of  the  nation.  After  the  Civil  War, 
when  corruption  invaded  the  Republic  and  government 
was  relaxed,  anxious  minds  looked  forward  with  ap- 
prehension to  the  appearance  of  the  "man  on  horse- 
back." He  has  not  appeared,  nor  has  the  oligarchy 
of  the  bosses,  which  people  were  afraid  of  seeing 
installed  at  Washington.  The  centralizing  tendencies 
developed  through  the  war,  as  well  as  by  the  party 
regime,  seemed  indeed  to  pave  the  way  for  them;  but 
they  met  with  an  insurmountable  obstacle,  also  set  up 
by  the  Constitution  —  the  federative  organization  of  the 
Republic.  A  Caesar  or  a  Napoleon,  who  "bestrides  a 
world  like  a  Colossus,"  and  sways  an  empire  from  a 
capital,  can  only  rise  and  flourish  on  a  levelled  political 
soil  which  presents  a  flat  and  smooth  surface ;  now  the 
American  soil  was  broken  up  by  a  number  of  political 
units  which,  in  spite  of  all  vicissitudes,  had  preserved 
their  individuality.  The  double  organization,  federal 
and  local,  of  the  public  powers  and  of  the  governmental 
attributions,  left  as  little  room  in  the  Union  for  a  mayor 
of  the  palace  as  for  an  oligarchy.  Thus  the  American 
Constitution  issued  triumphant  from  the  ordeal  to 
which  the  Machine  regime  had  subjected  it.  The  part 
of  the  constitutional  apparatus  which  contained  the 


SUMMARY  415 

elective  system  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  that  regime. 
But  the  reserved  rights  of  the  individual,  the  federa- 
tive organization,  and  the  courts  of  law  as  political 
arbiters  between  the  individual  and  the  State  and 
between  the  States  and  the  Union,  that  is  to  say  those 
parts  of  the  Constitution  which  all  vindicated  personal 
liberty  under  various  aspects,  withstood  the  shock. 

203.   Thanks  to  this  combination  of  circumstances,  Plutocrats 
the  American  citizen  has  not  felt  too  seriously  the  con-  ^f^  ^1!".^"^ 

■'  at  political 

sequences  of  the  fact  that  the  government  has  slipped  jjower. 
from  the  people.     It  was  the  same  with  the  second    I 
grave  result  brought  about  by  the  Machine  regime,  the   | 
subjection  of  the  State  to  private  commercial  interests. 
With  them  privilege  really  did  invade  the  State,  but  it 
did  not  pursue  political  ends.     The  plutocrats  cared 
even  less  than  the  bosses  about  confiscating  the  liber- 
ties of  the  people;    they  thought  of  one  thing  only, 
morning,  noon,  and  night  —  to  enrich  themselves  as 
much  as  possible.     Now,  as  long  as  it  was  a  question 
of  making  money,  the  American  was  afraid  of  nobody ;  Pursuit  of 
all  he  asked  for,  up  to  quite  recently,  was,  *'  Give  me  wealth  free 
elbow-room,  and  I  will  take  care  of  the  rest" — and  in 
point  of  fact  he  got  what  he  wanted.     The  change  in 
the  conditions  of  this  free  race,  which  is  being  brought 
about,  under  our  eyes,  by  the  inevitable  exhaustion  of 
natural  resources  and  the  formidable  concentration  of 
capital  threatening  to  restrict  freedom  of  production, 
was  necessary  to  make  individual  interests  begin  to  take 
the  alarm. 

Of  course,  the  moral  harm  done  by  the  Machine  regime 
and  the  dangers  to  which  it  exposes  the  future  of  the 
Republic   could   not   be   mitigated   by   constitutional 


4i6 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


The  cor- 
rective of 
public 
opinion. 


guarantees,  nor  by  the  abundant  resources  of  the  coun- 
try, nor  by  the  special  nature  of  the  auns  of  the  bosses 
and  the  plutocrats.  This  harm  found  a  partial  cor- 
rective in  the  mind  of  the  citizen,  who  believes  that  he 
is  still  king  in  the  State,  and  that  he  can  put  things 
to  rights  when  he  chooses.  The  words  of  the  stump 
orator,  "When  the  American  people  will  rise  in  their 
might  and  majesty,"  are  by  no  means  a  mere  formula 
to  his  audience.  Each  one  of  them  believes  in  this 
mysterious  force  which  is  called  "the  American  people," 
and  which  nothing  can  withstand;  he  has  a  mystic 
faith  in  the  power  of  opinion,  he  speaks  of  it  with  a 
sort  of  religious  ecstasy.  This  faith  in  opinion  makes 
up  for  the  inadequate  strength  put  forth  by  it.  The 
citizen  does  not  lift  a  finger  to  conabat  abuses,  but  his 
conviction  that  his  mere  volition  is  sufficient  to  put  an 
end  to  them  keeps  up  the  love  of  right  and  the  hatred 
of  wrong  within  him,  like  a  fire  which  barely  emits  a 
spark,  but  which  is  not  extinguished  and  may  at  any 
moment  burst  into  a  generous  flame,  giving  light  and 
warmth. 

And  then  events  have  often,  especially  in  these  last 
years,  justified  that  faith  in  opinion  and  shown  it  as  a 
corrective  of  tremendous  force.  With  ample  stores  of 
moral  strength  it  can  bring  itself  to  bear  on  all  and 
every  one  as  soon  as  raised.  It  may  not  be  easily  fo- 
cussed  and  brought  into  motion,  but  it  is  there.  The 
Russian  people  enduring  oppression  through  ages,  and 
still  believing  in  the  justice  of  God  and  of  the  Tsar, 
but  finding  no  redress,  have  a  melancholy  proverb: 
"The  Almighty  is  high,  the  Tsar  is  far."  In  the 
United  States  the  Almighty  may  still  be  high,  but 


SUMMARY  417 

public  opinion  is  near.  Along  with  the  instrument  of 
the  Constitution,  the  potential  power  of  opinion  has 
vindicated  in  America  liberty  and  democracy. 

204.  Yet  the  degree  in  which  the  dissolvent  action  All  those 
of  the  party  regime  could  be  neutralized  is  in  danger  seif-actmg 
of  considerable  diminution,  because  the  United  States  slackening, 
are  more  and  more  losing  the  benefit  of  those  excep- 
tional conditions  which  we  have  seen  check  the  mis- 
chief. Their  vast  natural  resources  are  beginning  to  be 
exhausted,  especially  the  free  lands.  Again,  in  propor- 
tion as  the  continent  is  cleared,  is  covered  with  large 
cities  containing  a  dense  population,  and  as  industrial 
civilization  advances,  social  existence  assumes  a  com- 
plexity which  is  no  longer  compatible  with  the  primi- 
tive simplicity  of  government.  The  functions  of  the 
latter  become  more  numerous,  more  complicated,  and 
more  deUcate.  Individual  liberty  will  not  be  able  to 
serve  as  an  antidote  to  the  same  extent  as  formerly,  for 
the  amount  of  liberty  available  will  naturally  grow  less. 
The  more  complex  civilization  becomes,  the  greater  be- 
comes the  necessity  for  regulation.  The  rapid  develop- 
ment of  the  "police  power  of  government"  which 
we  have  witnessed  was  aimed  to  meet  this  need.  The 
legislation  of  these  last  years  in  Congress  and  in  the 
States  has  made  tremendous  strides  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. The  new  and  extensive  powers  vested  in  the 
national  authorities  are  tending  almost  to  efface  State 
lines,  so  that  the  protective  barrier  of  the  federal  organi- 
zation is  becoming  less  effective. 

External  liberty  is  not  alone  in  process  of  diminu- 
tion. The  moral  autonomy  of  the  individual,  the  con- 
sciousness which  he  had  of  his  liberty,  and  which,  to  a 

2E 


41 8  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

certain  extent  repaired,  as  it  were  in  a  worn-out  frame, 
the  strength  wasted  through  the  fault  of  the  Machine,  is 
also  on  the  decline.  This  consciousness  of  his  liberty 
was  imparted  to  the  individual  mainly  by  his  economic 
independence.  Now,  the  latter  is  yielding  under  the 
action  of  the  new  factors  such  as  the  formidable  indus- 
trial concentration;  the  scarcity  of  land  and  the  com- 
petition, daily  growing  more  formidable,  of  foreign  com ; 
the  small  rural  landowner  beginning  to  give  way  to 
the  tenant;  the  emigration  to  the  cities  steadily  going 
on  as  a  result  of  agricultural  depression. 

The  decline  of  religious  feeling,  which  is  incontes- 
table in  the  country  districts  as  well  as  in  the  cities, 
is  tending  likewise  towards  the  shrinkage  of  the  indi- 
vidual by  severing  the  strong  ties  which  the  Church 
formed  among  its  members,  not  only  in  matters  of 
religion;  it  is  disturbing  the  equilibrium  of  the  indi- 
vidual character. 

The  political  development  of  the  last  decade.  Im- 
perialism on  the  one  hand  and  governmental  centraliza- 
tion and  regulation  riding  roughshod  over  local  auton- 
omy on  the  other  hand,  are  evidently  exerting  a 
far-reaching  influence  towards  the  same  end.  The  in- 
difference, not  to  say  sometimes  the  levity,  with  which 
these  new  policies  and  their  consequences  are  accepted, 
is  rather  ominous.  There  is  noticeable  to  an  observer 
a  decided  shrinkage  of  the  sense  of  liberty  in  quarters 
where  it  should  be  least  expected. 

Lastly,  the  same  effect  is  being  produced  by  the 
political  scepticism  which  the  corruption  of  the  party 
regime  does  not  fail  to  develop. 

The  material  as  well  as  the   moral  reserve  repre- 


SUMMARY  419 

sented  by  the  territory,  by  the  individual,  and  by  the  Deter- 
economy  of  the  Constitution  being  thus  duninished,  the  ^^^^^  ^^^"" 

■'  °  '  perative 

passive  resistance  offered  by  these  latent  forces  to  the  action 
destructive  action  of  the  Machine  regime  will  be  less  necessary, 
effective  than  of  yore.  The  favourite  saying  of  the 
Americans,  "It  will  right  itself,"  is  becoming  every 
day  more  untrue.  Only  an  active  resistance,  a  vigor- 
ous offensive,  will  be  able  to  check  the  mischief, 
or  perhaps  even  eradicate  it. 

205.  The  task  is  a  gigantic  one:  the  citizen  has  to  Tremen- 
be  reinvested  with  his  power  over  the  commonwealth,  ^^^^  ^^sk; 
and  the  latter  restored  to  its  proper  sphere ;  the  separa- 
tion between  society  at  large  and  politics  must  be 
ended,  and  the  divorce  between  politics  and  morality 
annulled;  civic  indifference  must  give  place  to  an 
alert  and  vigilant  public  spirit;  the  conscience  of 
the  citizen  must  be  set  free  from  the  formalism  which 
has  enslaved  it;  those  ahke  who  confer  and  who 
hold  power  must  be  guided  by  the  reason  of  things, 
and  not  by  conventional  words;  superiority  of  char- 
acter and  of  intelligence,  that  is  to  say  real  leadership, 
dethroned  by  political  machinism,  must  be  reinstated 
in  the  governance  of  the  Republic;  authority  as  well 
as  liberty,  now  usurped  and  trafficked  under  the  party 
flag  and  in  the  name  of  democracy,  must  be  rehabili- 
tated in  the  commonwealth. 

Certainly  the  task  is  tremendous,  but  not  hopeless,  but  begin- 
And  the  proof  of  it  is  that  a  portion,  small  as  it  is,  of  nmg  already 
what  has  to  be  done,  is  already  accomplished.     The 
last  few  years,  as  we  have  seen,  have  been  marked  by 
an  awakening  of  the  civic  conscience.     The  business 
community  displays  a  much  keener  interest  in  local 


420 


DEMOCRACY    AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


Conditions 
of  further 
improve- 
ment. 


public  affairs  than  formerly.  Cultivated  society  and, 
in  particular,  the  rising  generation,  descend  into  the 
political  arena  with  an  ardour  which  was  unknowa 
thirty  years  ago.  Public  morality  has  advanced; 
society  has  become  more  alive  to  right  and  wrong. 
Public  opinion  is  beginning  to  extricate  itself  from  the 
narrow  and  deadly  groove  of  parties.  The  fetish-like 
cult  of  party  has  incomparably  fewer  fervent  wor- 
shippers. Party  ties  are  being  relaxed  in  all  the  organi- 
zations, through  the  progress  of  enlightenment  and  the 
feeling  of  social  unrest  which  works  upon  certain  classes 
of  society  and,  in  these  latest  years,  owing  to  the  process 
of  heartsearching  which  has  come  over  the  community 
in  consequence  of  the  exposures  of  financial  and  po- 
litical dishonesty.  In  the  South  itself  economic  changes 
are  tending  to  unsettle  parties,  the  "Solid  South"  is 
breaking.  In  the  Middle  West  parties  have  already 
gone  to  pieces  in  many  a  State.  Intellectual  progress 
is  incontestable  throughout  the  community,  and  people 
unquestionably  vote  with  more  discrimination.  The 
personal  qualities  of  the  man  in  public  life,  his  moral 
worth,  are  becoming  more  and  more  appreciated. 
Voluntary  leadership,  personal  leadership  is  beginning 
to  dispute  the  ground  with  organized  leadership,  and 
the  latter's  power  is  on  the  decline.  The  expert  is 
gaining  in  public  estimation ;  slowly  and  laboriously  he 
is  undermining  the  prejudice  so  widely  entertained 
that  the  public  interest  can  be  entrusted  to  the  first 
comer,  to  "a  plain  man  like  all  the  rest  of  us." 

These  results  are  not  to  be  despised,  but  they 
constitute  only  a  small  instalment  of  the  whole  debt. 
The   further   raising   of   the    standard   of   American 


SUMMARY  421 

political  society  must  depend,  of  course,  on  the 
further  improvement  of  its  culture,  both^mtellecteftl- 
and  moral,  and  of  jts^olitical  methods.  The  whole 
story  told  here  points  to  this  end  and  foreshadows 
clearly  enough  the  path  along  which  that  advance- 
ment is  to  be  sought.  It  remains  for  us  to  formulate 
the  conclusions  as  well  as  the  practical  measures  which 
the  experience  we  have  examined  seems  to  suggest. 


SEVENTEENTH  CHAPTER 


CONCLUSION 


Experience 
related  is 
not  a  con- 
demnation 
of  democ- 
racy, 


but  of  its 
methods. 


Elective 
system 
carried  to 


206.  The  mishaps  and  failures  which  we  have  only 
too  often  witnessed  cannot  be  attributed  to  democratic 
government  as  such.  Through  this  very  experience, 
so  full  of  sadness,  democracy  has  vindicated  itself  again 
and  again.  Along  with  the  exceptional  character  of 
American  economic  development  and  the  corrupting 
influence  of  Protectionism,  the  ways  and  means  by 
which  democratic  government  has  been  worked  up,  in 
one  word  political  methods,  are  largely  responsible  for 
the  unsatisfactory  results. 

The  old  tradition  of  the  struggles  against  absolute 
power  impelled  American  political  society  to  develop 
to  its  utmost  the  elective  regime.  Representative  in- 
stitutions were,  for  the  subjects,  the  means  of  ensuring 
the  security  of  their  persons  and  property;  and  each 
step  forward  in  this  direction  marked  a  new  conquest 
in  the  domain  of  popular  liberties,  until,  established 
for  good  and  all,  an  elective  regime  became  a  synonym 
for  a  regime  of  liberty.  Under  cover  of  this  political 
evolution,  a  prejudice  grew  up  which  attributed  a  sort  of 
mystic  virtue  to  the  elective  principle  in  itself,  and 
made  it  an  axiom  that  the  more  widely  the  elective 
method  is  applied  in  public  organization  the  more 
liberty  there  is.     When,  to  accomplish  liberty,  society 

422 


CONCLUSION  423 

started  in  pursuit  of  equality,  it  sought  to  realize  it  by 
the  same  means:   by  giving  fresh  developments  to  the 
elective  principle.     It  subjected  to  universal  suffrage 
the  greatest  possible  number  of  public  functions,  and 
even    the   extra-legal    domain   of   political    influence, 
represented  by  party  associations.     The  hypertrophy  J 
of  the  electoral  system  reached  such  a  pitch  that  the  ^^ 
nation  could  not  properly  discharge  the  duty  thrust  on  |!^> 
it,  and  in  its  helplessness  it  threw  itself  on  election-  ^Jf 
brokers  and  managers  who,  on   pretence    of  helping  5T 
bewildered  public  opinion,  became  its  masters.  '   \ 

207.   The  lesson  following  therefrom  is  that,  con-  Limits  of 
trary  to  current  prejudice^'  the  elective  principle  in  ^^?  electoral 

.  .  /  ,.     .      ,  ,        principle. 

government  is  a  sprmg  of  limited  power;  once  the 
limit  is  exceeded,  it  becomes,  like  a  strained  me- 
chanical spring,  incapable  of  supplying  the  required 
impulse,  and  throws  the  movement  out  of  order.  It 
follows,  again,  that  a  highly  developed  electoral  system 
produces,  in  reality,  a  diminution  of  the  people's 
strength.  By  parcelling  out,  so  to  speak,  public  func- 
tions of  every  kind  on  the  elective  method,  the  people 
fritter  away  their  authority  instead  of  increasing  it ;  the 
direct  responsibility  to  themselves,  which  they  try  to 
establish  all  along  the  line,  is  scattered,  and,  while  sup- 
posed to  be  everywhere,  is  really  nowhere.  To  make 
responsibility  to  the  people  a  reality,  it  is  necessary 
that  it  should  be  concentrated  and  applied  only 
to  certain  well-defined  attributions  of  the  public 
authority,  to  those  which,  by  their  nature,  dominate 
all  others,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  modern  State,  in  the 
first  instance,  to  legislative  functions,  and,  in  the 
second    degree,    to   those    of  local    self-government. 


424  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

Every  extension  of  the  elective  regime  beyond  these 
limits,  to  administrative  posts  and  to  judicial  office,  can 
be  admitted  only  as  the  lesser  of  two  evils,  namely 
in  countries  which  are  still  in  the  lower  or  inter- 
mediate stage  of  political  progress,  such  as  Russia,  for 
instance,  or  even  Germany.  There  an  elective  ad- 
ministration and  judiciary  may  give  public  opinion  an 
opportunity  of  making  itself  heard  and  enable  it  to 
exercise  a  modicum  of  control  over  public  affairs,  of 
which  it  is  deprived  by  the  political  organization.  They 
may  serve  as  a  means  of  civic  education  to  awaken 
and  stimulate  interest  in  the  public  weal,  which  is  still 
feebly  developed ;  or,  again,  hold  in  check  a  bureaucracy 
that  is  corrupt,  or  withstand  one  that  is  honest  and 
capable  but  arrogant  and  dictatorial,  and  whose 
representatives  fondly  imagine  that  they  are  made  of 
a  different  clay  from  other  people.  That  is  to  say, 
the  progress  of  a  political  community  is  appraised  not 
by  the  extension  of  the  elective  method  in  its  organiza- 
tion, but  by  the  degree  to  wJaich  the  body  politic  may 
venture  to  restrict  it  and  to  entrust  fearlessly  its  ad- 
ministration and  courts  of  law  to  permanent  officials. 
When  a  community  has  reached  true  liberty,  when 
public  opinion,  become  supreme,  holds  the  legis- 
lative power,  —  the  source  of  all  powers,  —  and 
commands  liberty  of  the  Press,  of  association,  and  of 
meeting,  the  elective  method  applied  to  administration 
ceases  to  render  the  services  which  it  may  have  ren- 
dered to  the  community  during  its  years  of  growth 
and  struggle,  and,  serving  no  useful  purpose,  recoils  even 
against  the  public  :  it  makes  the  latter  exhaust  itself 
in  electoral  efforts,  which  are  henceforth  superfluous 


CONCLUSION  425 

and  simply  divide  and  weary  its  attention,  blunt 
its  moral  energy,  and,  in  the  long  run,  withdraw  public 
opinion  from  its  real  duty,  which  is  that  of  supervising 
and  controlling  the  organs  of  government. 

208.  The  prejudice  which  attributed  an  intrinsic  Preliminary 
efficacy  to  the  elective  system  was  complicated  by  an-  stlge°ieft 
other  mistake,  perhaps  brought  in  its  train  —  the  out  of  sight, 
no  less  grave  mistake  of  supposing  that  the  applica- 
tion of  this  system  could  be  left  to  itself.  This  view 
came  direct  from  the  eighteenth  century,  which  had  a 
fond  belief  in  the,  so  to  say,  automatic  and  universal 
action  of  moral  ideas.  It  was  proclaimed  as  axiomatic 
that  mankind  had  been  unhappy  because  men  were 
ignorant  of  their  rights ;  that,  to  be  free,  it  was  enough 
to  know  and  to  love  liberty,  etc.  By  enacting  the  elec- 
tive system,  had  not  enough  been  done  to  realize 
liberty  ?  There  seemed  to  be  no  inkling  that  a  popular 
election  demands  the  agreement  of  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  persons,  an  agreement  of  minds  and  wills  which 
needs  to  be  established  beforehand.  The  founders  of 
the  American  Republic  themselves,  who  examined  the 
dangers  and  the  difficulties  of  democratic  government 
so  closely,  had  not,  it  would  appear,  bestowed  a  mo- 
ment's thought  on  the  question  of  how  the  electors 
should  be  brought  together  and  made  of  one  mind 
to  achieve  the  final  act  conferring  the  mandate.  It  is 
probable  that  the  limited  horizon  of  the  small  republics, 
with  an  insignificant  population,  in  which  the  framers 
of  the  American  Constitution  lived,  as  well  as  the  social 
hierarchy  which  was  still  supreme  in  public  life,  hid  this 
problem  from  their  eyes.  There  was  no  thought  even 
of   deciding   how    qualified    and   unqualified   persons 


426 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Harmful 
effects. 


Tardy  and 
mistaken 
interven- 
tion of  the 
State. 


should  be  distinguished  at  the  elections;  there  was 
no  attempt  to  establish  any  system  of  electoral  lists. 

Private  organizations  stepped  into  the  void  left  by 
the  State,  and  soon  they  laid  hand  on  the  whole 
procedure  which  prepares  and  determines  the  elec- 
tions. To  control  the  action  of  the  citizens  during  this 
preliminary  electoral  phase,  a  very  complicated  ma- 
chinery was  created,  forming  a  pendant  to  the  con- 
stitutional mechanism.  It  was  accepted  all  the  more 
readily  that  it  met  a  real  public  want.  But  the 
more  fully  it  appeared  to  satisfy  that  want,  the  more 
its  action  extended,  and  the  more  it  degraded  public 
life.  It  was  like  a  parasite,  which  feeds  on  the  vital 
parts  of  the  body  and  weakens  all  its  members. 

209.  Alarmed  at  last,  the  State  intervened.  But 
unconscious  of  its  rights  and  duties,  it  stumbled  hither 
and  thither  and  groped  in  wrong  directions.  Ex- 
perience revealed  the  lack  in  political  machinery  of  an 
apparatus  corresponding  to  the  preliminary  phase  of 
electoral  operations;  then  it  was  the  duty  of  the  State 
to  create  that  supplementary  apparatus  and  not  allow 
private  initiative  to  undertake  it  with  a  selfish  object. 
State  intervention  to  that  end  could  in  no  way  inter- 
fere with  the  citizen's  right  to  select  freely  his  repre- 
sentatives. That  liberty  of  the  citizen  is  above  the 
State,  but  to  permit  of  its  exercise  it  should,  like  all 
liberties,  be  guaranteed  and,  if  need  be,  organized  by 
the  State.  Now  the  American  State,  instead  of  so 
doing,  tried  at  first  to  remonstrate  gently  with  the  private 
\  organizations,  which  had  captured  the  business  of  select- 
''  ing  candidates,  and  suggested  to  them  to  behave  them- 
selves, obligingly  offering  them  rules  of  better  conduct 


CONCLUSION  427 

(optional  regulation  of  primaries).  Ignored  by  those 
organizations,  the  State  addressed  them  in  a  more  com- 
manding tone  (beginnings  of  the  mandatory  regulation 
of  the  primaries),  but  with  scanty  success.  Then,  stung 
to  the  quick  by  the  pressure  of  public  opinion,  it 
resorted  to  more  drastic  measures  in  submitting  to 
strict  and  compulsory  regulation  the  preliminary  stage 
of  election  procedure  —  as  conducted  by  the  great 
parties  (latest  phase  of  legal  direct  primaries).  The 
State  took  on  itself  those  operations,  but  only  on  behalf 
of  the  parties.  These  latter  preserved  their  mastery 
and  in  the  end  secured  a  safer  tenure,  while  becoming 
part  of  the  legal  machinery. 

The  idea  underlying  the  form  of  regulation  resorted  Incorpora- 
to  —  that  of  incorporating  political  parties   into   the  ^'°|!  P^ 
State  —  was  fundamentally  wrong.     Running  counter  parties  into 
to  the  elementary  notions  of  the  relations  between  State  ^^^  ^^^*®- 
and  citizens  under  free  institutions,  the  legalization  of 
parties  is  equally  unjustifiable  in  its  results.      A  po- 
litical party  is  by  its  very  nature  a  free  combination  of 
citizens  acting  solely  of  their  own  will,  so  far  as  it  does 
not  ofifend  the  law  of  the  land.    Their  relations  to  the 
State  and  to  public  authorities  are  just  the  same  as 
those  of  any  number  of  citizens  lawfully  uniting  for 
this  or  for  that  purpose.     Party  as  such  is  quite  un- 
known to  a  State  which  respects  the  fundamental  rights 
of  citizens.     The  State  has  no  right  to  ask  the  members 
of  any  group  what  their  political  ideas  are  or  what  is 
their  political  record.     It  is  no  business  of  the  State  to 
hall-mark  political  opinions  or  to  settle  the  conditions 
on  which  the  hall-mark  shall  be  granted.     In  no  free 
country   has   such   an   interference   been    attempted. 


428  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

Russia  alone  has  recently  hit  on  the  idea  of  "legalizing 
political  parties,"  certainly  without  knowledge  of  the 
American  precedent.  Pressed  hard,  the  Russian  autoc- 
racy was  compelled,  in  1905,  to  consent  to  a  sem- 
blance of  constitutional  government.  But  when  con- 
fronted with  political  parties  born  of  the  freedom 
wrested  from  it  in  a  moment  of  despondency,  it  con- 
trived to  sort  them,  giving  recognition  to  the  harmless 
and  denying  existence  to  the  wicked.  A  special  police 
board  was  established,  to  which  any  party  had  to 
apply  for  "legalization."  But  then  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment proved  at  least  consistent:  while  prosecuting 
and  persecuting  the  "non-legalized"  parties,  it  did  not 
meddle  with  the  parties  allowed  to  live.  The  Ameri- 
can State  suppresses  no  party  but  interferes  with  all. 
Constitu-  210.    By  what  right  can  it  do  so?    In  a  few  States 

^1^^^}  ^^^^'  t^^^  right  has  been  questioned  in  the  courts,  with  re- 
gard to  the  regulation  of  the  party  primaries.  In 
most  of  these  cases  the  right  of  regulating  parties  has 
been  upheld,  without  much  discussion,  on  the  ground 
that  the  Constitution  does  not  prohibit  such  legislation, 
that  party  management  is  of  such  vital  importance  to 
the  public  and  to  the  State  that  the  law  ought  to  take 
care  of  it,  that  such  regulation  is  an  exercise  of  the 
police  power  of  the  State  and  therefore  is  clearly  within 
the  legislative  province. 

All  these  reasons  can  scarcely  be  considered  as  per- 
tinent. Is  it  enough  that  the  Constitution  should  be 
silent  on  a  subject  to  allow  the  legislature  to  enact  with 
regard  to  it  any  rule?  Are  there  not  political  precepts 
which  belong  to  the  category  of  "  self-evident  truths" 
and  need  not  be  specified  even  in  written  constitutions  ? 


point. 


CONCLUSION  429 

Can  the  importance  alone  of  a  political  or  social  phenom- 
enon justify  the  interference  of  the  State  ?  Could  not, 
for  reasons  similar  to  those  applied  to  the  manage- 
ment of  party  organizations,  the  party  Press  be  regu- 
lated ?  are  not  the  newspapers  manipulated  by  the  Ma- 
chines and  bosses  as  noxious  as  the  party  committees 
manipulated  by  them  ?  It  would  be  unconstitutional  to 
abridge  the  freedom  of  the  Press !  But  is  it  more  in 
harmony  with  the  spirit,  at  least,  of  the  Constitution  to 
prevent  an  elector  from  voting  for  the  nomination  of  the 
man  of  his  choice  if  this  latter  happens  to  be  on  the 
ticket  of  a  party  with  which  the  elector  has  ceased  to 
act  or  has  not  yet  acted  ?  Has  not  this  question  been 
answered  in  advance  most  pertinently  in  a  famous  de- 
cision of  the  Massachusetts  Court  (Capen  v.  Foster, 
1832),  which,  while  recognizing  the  right  of  the  State  to 
regulate  the  mode  of  exercising  the  suffrage,  stipulates 
that  "such  a  construction  would  afford  no  warrant  for 
such  an  exercise  of  legislative  power,  as,  under  the  pre- 
tence of  and  colour  of  regulating,  should  subvert  or  in- 
juriously restrain  the  right  itself"?  Again,  the  police 
power  of  the  State  is  admitted  and  is  often  justifiable, 
but  to  proclaim  that  a  thing  is  done  by  the  exercise 
of  police  power  is  no  proof  that  it  is  rightly  done; 
rather  it  may  be  an  act  of  might  than  of  right.  So  it 
was  in  the  cases  under  consideration  when  the  police 
power  of  the  State  extended  itself  over  manifestations 
of  opinion.  The  true  limit  of  the  power  of  the  State  in 
that  direction  has  been  indicated  by  the  dissenting 
justice  in  the  court  of  New  York  who  said  that  "the 
legislature  may,  doubtless,  forbid  fraud,  corruption,  in- 
timidation or  other  crimes  in  political  organization  the 


430  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

same   as  in  business  associations,  but  beyond  this  it 

cannot  go." 
Objections         211.   Objections   to   the    "legalization"  of   political 
of  practical    p^j-ties  are  not,  however,   confined   to   constitutional 

application        ^  i    .  r     i  r  ^      ^ 

and  political  theory.     The  working  of  the  new-fangled  system  raises 
fitness.  from  the  start  serious  practical  difficulties.     Parties 

being  somewhat  numerous  and  liable  to  multiply  and 
to  take  shape  rather  unexpectedly,  they  cannot  be  all 
easily  incorporated  into  the  legal  machinery.  The 
legislature  found  it  more  convenient  to  hall-mark  the 
old  organizations  and  submit  them  to  special  require- 
ments while  according  them  special  privileges.  The 
commonwealth,  whose  very  name  means  absolute  neu- 
trality towards  all  and  any  group  of  citizens,  was  brought 
to  discriminate  between  political  parties.  Nay,  it 
allowed  itself  to  become  the  guardian  of  party  regu- 
larity. Disfranchising,  as  regarded  nominations,  voters 
who  changed  their  party  allegiance,  it  induced,  even 
compelled,  their  adherence,  for  a  time  at  least,  to  the 
old  organizations.  Giving  to  the  regular  parties  priv- 
ileges on  the  ballot,  it  hampered  the  free  competition 
of  new  political  associations.  It  attempted  to  fix  the 
tide  of  political  opinion,  whose  untrammelled  flow  is 
the  preordained  law  of  freedom.  Like  the  State  of  old, 
custodian  of  Church  orthodoxy,  it  has  made  itself  the 
custodian  of  party  orthodoxy,  and  privileged  parties 
are  created  after  the  fashion  of  established  Churches. 
In  the  train  of  party  establishment  there  is  following 
already  its  twin  —  endowment.  President  Roosevelt  in 
his  message  to  Congress  of  1906  recommended  that 
election  expenses  should  be  refunded  from  the  public 
treasury  to  the  two  leading  parties.      The  infidels  of 


CONCLUSION  431 

the  other  parties  were  evidently  to  be  rooted  out  gently 
by  starvation.  The  idea  was  carried  out,  and  to  its 
logical  extreme,  in  the  legislation  of  a  Western  State,  in 
Colorado,  which  has  just  (in  1909)  enacted  a  law  en- 
joining the  State  to  pay  25  cents  for  each  vote  cast  at 
the  preceding  contest  for  governor,  this  sum  to  be  dis- 
tributed to  the  party  chairmen  in  proportion  to  the  votes 
cast  by  each  party.  New  parties  are  ipso  facto  excluded 
from  the  participation  in  this  manna.  But  that  is  not 
all.  Contributions  by  other  persons  than  the  candi- 
dates themselves  and  by  corporations  to  political  parties, 
committees  or  candidates,  are  made  a  felony  punishable 
by  fine  and  imprisonment.  Quite  justly  remarks  an 
independent  journal:  "This  law  gives  the  great  parties 
practically  all  the  funds.  It  gives  to  third  parties  little. 
It  gives  the  independent  movement  none.  And  it 
makes  a  felony  for  the  movement  with  no  funds  to  con- 
tribute anything  to  the  defeat  of  the  party  with  the 
barrel.  It  gives  the  great  parties  funds  raised  by 
taxation  and  it  makes  the  financing  of  competing  par- 
ties criminal." 

The  path  entered  by  the  American  legislature  was  in-  Legalization 
deed  an  incline  which  it  has  gradually  but  continually  ^^  parties 
and  fatally  descended.     When  enacting  the  Australian  by  ballot 
ballot,  to  secure  secrecy  of  the  suffrage  and  orderly  legislation, 
voting,  the  legislature  conferred  a  privileged  position 
on  the  ballot  to  the  candidates  of  the  "parties,"  instead 
of  putting  all  political  groups,  whether  regular  or  not, 
on  a  footing  of  equality  by  requiring  them  all  to  lodge 
a  petition  for  having  their  candidates  placed  on  the 
ballot  and  by  withholding  from  any  candidate  its  hall- 
mark.    From  that  moment  the  fate  of  the  "legalization 


432 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 


carried  out 
in  a  com- 
mercial 
spirit. 


New  plan 
of  a  nomi- 
nating 
system. 


of  parties"  was  sealed,  and  step  by  step  it  reached 
those  drastic  forms  of  the  ''exercise  of  the  police  power 
of  the  State"  which  we  know. 

Such  proceedings,  however  determined  and  high- 
handed, cannot  be  considered  a  vindication  of  the  au- 
thority of  the  State,  intervening  imperiously  to  right  the 
wrongs  in  the  community.  In  reality  it  was  an  appli- 
cation of  the  commercial  methods  prevailing  in  the 
country.  When  a  great  business  meets  another  in  its 
course,  it  endeavours  to  render  the  competitor  harmless 
by  buying  him  out,  by  force  if  necessary.  Exactly  so 
did  the  American  State  when  confronted  with  the 
abuses  of  the  party  system ;  it  took  it  into  partnership 
and  assumed  to  a  large  extent  the  management  of  its 
afifairs  on  the  basis  of  distributing  the  dividends  between 
party  and  public  decency. 

212.  However,  between  public  and  private  interests 
there  can  be  no  partnership;  in  public  life  the  public 
interest  must  have  undivided  sway :  there  is  no  condo- 
minium possible.  The  preliminary  stage  of  the  elec- 
toral operations,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  should  be 
organized  entirely  and  solely  by  the  State  on  behalf  of 
the  people  as  a  whole  without  paying  any  attention  to 
parties.  The  plan  could  be  carried  out  on  lines  such 
as  these :  Sometime  before  the  election,  say  a  month, 
all  the  voters  should  be  convened  by  the  public  authori- 
ties to  a  preliminary  poll  to  express  their  preferences 
for  nominees  for  public  offices.  To  be  entered  at  that 
poll  an  aspirant  to  office  should  be  presented  by  "pe- 
tition," i.e.  by  a  more  or  less  considerable  number  of 
voters,  whether  or  not  belonging  to  an  organized  party. 
All  candidates  for  nomination  would  be  put  on  the 


CONCLUSION  433 

official  ballot,  distributed  at  public  expense,  together 
with  short  statements  of  their  opinions,  forwarded  for 
consideration  to  all  the  voters  at  a  reasonable  interval. 
The  three  aspirants  who  polled  the  highest  number  of 
votes  would  be  submitted  to  the  final  judgment  of  the 
electors  without  any  label  pinned  to  them  on  the  official  ''' 
ballot,  just  as  at  the  preliminary  poll.  The  final  choice 
would  be  made  only  by  the  electors  who  participated 
in  the  preliminary  poll.  At  either  poll  the  electors 
would  be  allowed  to  vote  for  more  than  one  candidate, 
indicating  next  to  their  best  man  their  second  or  even 
third  choice.^ 

The  reader  will  remember  that  a  somewhat  similar 
scheme  of  "non-partisan  primaries"  is  already  making 
headway  in  the  West  and  in  Massachusetts.  The  par- 
ticular character  and  the  merits  claimed  for  the  plan 
advocated  here  will  appear  from  what  follows. 

213.  Ignoring  completely  party  distinctions,  my  plan  What  is 
will  put  all  candidates  on  a  footing  of  equality,  will  ?r'^^*^ 
bring  them  all  before  the  electorate,  alike  those  of  the 
great  political  trusts  formed  by  the  regular  parties  and 
also  the  independent  candidates.  Requiring  that  all 
the  candidates  be  introduced  by  a  certain  number 
electors,  it  will  at  once  preclude  the  exaggerated  multi- 
plicity of  candidatures  and  help  to  elicit  from  the  first 
a  deliberate  expression  of  the  political  views  of  the 
different  groups  of  electors.  The  absence  of  any  party 
label  on  the  ballot  will  compel  the  still  larger  mass  of 
voters  to  look  somewhat  more  closely  at  the  man  in- 
stead of  voting  mechanically  for  the  signboard ;   it  will 

*  The  Idaho  law  of  1909  on  direct  primaries  provides  for  the 
second-choice  vote. 

2F 


lan. 


nd  I 
all/ 
off 


434  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

impel  the  bulk  of  the  voters  to  a  mental  effort  which 
they  are  now  allowed  and  invited  to  dispense  with. 
The  statements  of  the  candidates'  opinions  brought 
home  to  the  voters,  in  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word, 
will  help  them  to  make  up  their  minds  more  consciously. 
They  will  no  longer  be  constrained  to  accept  the  only 
candidate  nominated,  whether  he  is  a  good  selection  or 
not,  from  fear  of  scattering  their  votes  and  letting  in  the 
adversary.  By  means  of  the  preliminary  poll  it  will 
be  possible  to  reconnoitre  the  electoral  ground,  which 
under  the  existing  system  is  rather  hidden  from  the 
view  of  the  voters  as  in  a  fog.  The  possibility  of  indi- 
cating their  second  choice  will  still  farther  enhance  their 
freedom  of  selection,  their  facility  for  realizing  in  time 
the  strength  of  the  political  tendencies  obtaining  in  the 
constituency  and  the  popularity  of  the  several  candi- 
dates. They  will  no  longer  be  at  the  mercy  of  selfish 
wire-pullers.  The  traffic  in  political  labels  and  the 
monopoly  of  candidatures  enjoyed  by  committees  and 
caucuses  will  be  cut  short. 

In  the  interval  between  the  preliminary  poll  and  the 
election  the  claims  of  the  few  candidates  selected  can 
be  carefully  threshed  out  in  public  discussions,  so  that 
every  voter  willing  to  listen  and  to  remember  will  be  en- 
abled to  vote  like  a  man.  An  election  will  no  longer  be 
a  game  of  hazard.  At  the  same  time  party  and  legiti- 
mate partisanship  will  preserve  their  full  scope.  But  it 
will  no  longer  be  easy  to  shuffle  the  party  cards,  as  at 
present,  by  Republicans  taking  part  in  Democratic  pri- 
maries and  vice  versa,  or  voting  in  joint  primaries  for  a 
weak  candidate  of  the  opposite  party  to  defeat  him  the 
easier  at  the  election.     Under  the  plan  I  advocate  any 


CONCLUSION  435 

elector  voting  perfidiously  at  the  preliminary  poll  for  a 
candidate  of  another  party  will  run  the  risk  of  defeat- 
ing his  own  end,  because  his  real  favourite  may  by  such 
tactics  fall  behind  the  three  first  runners  admitted  to 
the  final  test  and  because  electors  after  the  preliminary 
poll  may  still  have  the  choice  of  more  than  one  candi- 
date of  their  own  party.  A  party  man  will  not  be 
able  to  spare  a  single  vote  at  the  preliminary  poll  if  he 
wants  to  see  his  favourite  among  the  first  three  runners. 
The  crucial  problem,  at  present  quite  insoluble,  of 
how  to  prevent  members  of  one  party  from  voting  at  pri- 
maries for  candidates  of  another  party,  is  thus  solved. 
The  evil  of  the  primaries  being  abandoned  to  the  poli- 
ticians will  cure  itself  by  the  same  process,  since  no 
elector  anxious  to  secure  the  election  of  his  favourite 
will  be  admitted  to  vote  unless  he  has  taken  part  in  the 
preliminary  poll. 

The  institution  of  a  preliminary  poll  will  amount  to  a 
double  election  and  to  a  double  electoral  campaign. 
Thereby  the  trouble  that  the  voters  have  to  take  may 
be  increased,  but  the  present  system  of  primaries  and 
especially  of  direct  primaries  involves  also  a  preliminary 
stage  of  the  election  agitation.  Besides,  compensation 
for  additional  electoral  activity  may  be  found  in  mak- 
ing elections  less  frequent,  a  matter  which  will  be  dis- 
cussed later.  Lastly,  increased  electoral  activity  in 
itself  is  not  an  evil;  it  is  wholesome  when  it  manifests 
a  vigilant  public  spirit  or  is  helping  to  promote  such. 

214.   Yet  the  beneficial  results  which  the  preliminary  Party 
polls  must  assuredly  produce  would  not  so  far  enough  system 

.  f    1         1  n       •,  ,  .     ,        ,        .  ^      too  must 

if  the  change  were  confined  to  this  legal  reform.     Pre-  be  changed, 
vious  agreement  on  the  part  of  the  electors  would  be 


436  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

almost  as  necessary  for  the  preliminary  poll  as  it  is  at 
present  for  the  single  election,  and  that  necessity  could 
be  still  exploited,  though  in  a  much  smaller  degree,  by 
the  interested  go-betweens  of  the  party  organizations. 
These  latter  have  succeeded  in  monopolizing  and  in 
exploiting  electoral  action,  not  solely  owing  to  the  State 
having  neglected  to  take  necessary  measures,  but  thanks 
also  to  certain  habits  of  mind  which  they  have  de- 
veloped in  the  citizens  and  to  modes  of  action  which  they 
have  forced  on  them.  The  monopoly  of  party  organiza- 
tion, so  disastrous  for  democracy,  will  not  be  destroyed 
before  those  mental  habits  and  modes  of  action  are 
I  I  changed,  before  the  present  basis  of  party  organization 
pressing  down  opinion  in  fixed  and  rigid  grooves  is 
^transformed. 
Old  sys-  O^his  basis  is  antiquated.  It  rests  on  conceptions  con- 
tem  out  oir^Q^y  ^q  ^j^g  modern  spirit  and  on  political  con- 
ditions which  have  ceased  to  exist.  Party  came 
down  to  us  as  an  inheritance  of  the  theological 
and  ecclesiastical  age.  Its  organization  resembled 
that  of  the  adherents  of  a  Church;  its  principles  or 
programme  constituted  a  creed  invested,  like  the  creed 
of  a  Church,  with  the  sanction  of  orthodoxy  and  hetero- 
doxy. The  adherence  had  to  be  undivided ;  one  could 
not  dififer  from  the  party  on  any  article  of  its  faith  any 
more  than  one  could  choose  between  the  dogmas  of  a 
religion.  Like  the  Church  which  takes  charge  of  all 
the  spiritual  needs  of  man,  Party  demanded  the  whole 
citizen.  Conformity  with  the  party  creed  was  the  sole 
rule  of  political  conduct;  like  a  religious  faith  it  con- 
ferred saving  grace  on  all  its  members,  present  and  to 
come,  without  further  effort  on  their  part. 


CONCLUSION  437 

Since  the  advent  of  democracy,  Party  formed  on  an  irrational, 
ecclesiastical  basis  has  possessed  no  more  rational  justi- 
fication in  facts.  Its  historic  foundation  has  collapsed. 
The  old  divergences,  which  divided  society  into  two  hos- 
tile camps,  fell  into  the  background  after  the  definitive 
conquest  of  the  fundamental  liberties  which  placed  all 
on  an  equal  footing  in  the  State,  and  ensured  to  each 
man  the  untrammelled  development  of  his  moral  and 
material  personality.  The  new  problems  were  no 
longer  of  a  nature  to  divide  men's  minds  for  genera- 
tions, and  could  no  longer  give  rise  on  each  side  to  ties 
as  lasting  as  the  old  ones.  At  the  same  time  the  prob- 
lems became  infinitely  more  numerous  and  varied;  the 
emancipation  of  the  individual  and  the  growing  diver- 
sity of  the  social  conditions  of  a  more  complex  civili- 
zation had  substituted  everywhere  —  in  men's  ideas, 
interests,  aspirations  —  variety  for  unity,  and  a  sort  of 
perpetual  flux  for  the  comparative  stagnation  of  the  old 
days.  The  greater  diversity  of  problems  naturally 
produced  more  divisions,  which  could  not  be  reduced 
into  two  sets  as  formerly,  but  mingled  and  crossed  in 
men's  minds,  all  the  more  easily  that  the  ties  formed 
by  the  old  combinations  were  relaxed^^,^ay    ^  U4  ^ 

These  conditions  could  not  be  ^one  away  by  the 
theory  of  the  natural  dualism  of  the  human  mind  which 
the  champions  of  the  system  were  fond  of  advancing  — 
a  theory  according  to  which  the  human  race  is  divided 
into  those  who  wish  to  keep  things  as  they  are  and 
those  who.  desire  to  change  them,  from  which  it  would 
follow  that  there  must,  and  always  will  be,  two  per- 
manent parties.;  No  doubt  each  problem  may  be 
viewed  imder 'two  diiGEerent  aspects,  but  is  it  natural 


438 


DEMOCRACY   AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Exercise  of 
power  by 
party  no 
longer 
justifiable. 


that  the  same  persons  should  always,  in  all  things,  take, 
the  one  set  the  negative,  the  other  the  affirmative  ?  Is 
it  reasonable  to  admit  that  a  man  who  desires  to  pre- 
serve the  Established  Church  should  necessarily  wish 
to  keep  the  dirt  in  the  streets,  as  Mr.  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain asserted  in  the  days  when  he  belonged  to  the  Radi- 
cal party? 
\2i5.  iThe  system  of  rigid  parties  having  as  its  object 
noV-Ohly  the  triumph  of  their  principles  but  the  con- 
quest of  power  had  its  justification  in  the  struggles  for 
liberty.  The  exercise  of  power  by  the  victorious  party 
was  not  intended  only  to  gratify  ambition  and  greed, 
but  was  necessary  as  the  sole  means  of  ensuring  the 
triumph  in  practical  life  of  the  conception  of  public 
policy  represented  by  that  party.  The  antagonism  be- 
tween the  conceptions  embodied  by  the  parties  affected 
the  very  foundations  of  political  society ;  it  was  so  pro- 
found, and  the  passions  of  the  parties  were  so  violent 
and  irreconcilable,  that  even  after  victory,  in  time  of 
peace  so  to  speak,  conquests  had  to  be  defended  as  in 
time  of  war;  one.  or  other  of  the  two  parties  had  to 
hold  the  citadel  of  the  State  in  order  to  overawe  its 
opponent  and  secure  the  untrammelled  application  of 
the  principles  of  public  policy  which  it  supported. 
But, soon  theseprinclpfes  were^^cognized   by  every 

^,Qne;  they  no  longer  were  in  danger  trom  any  party, 
^4©i— liiey  hadstmk  into^he  natiohalco&scieuce  and 

'  were  protected  by  a  new  power  which  had  arisen  in 
the  meantime  and  which  all  parties  thenceforth  humbly 
invoked  —  the  power  of  opinion. 

However,  the  parties  which  had  enjoyed  power  had 
little  notion  of  giving  it  up,  and  by  a  tacit  agreement 


CONCLUSION  439 

they  wielded  it  alternately,  according  to  the  changing 
fortunes  of  their  contests.  The  confusion,  at  first  un- 
avoidable, between  party  conceived  as  a  combination 
of  free  citizens  pursuing  a  political  object,  and  party 
as  a  troop  storming  the  heights  of  power  in  order  to  f 
divide  the  spoils,  was  perpetuated.  "Party  govern-  \ 
ment"  became  a  regular  institution.  Its  legitimacy  \ 
and  its  necessity  were  accepted  as  a  political  dogma 
owing  to  the  very  human  tendency  to  cloak  selfish 
aspirations  under  considerations  of  the  general  interest, 
and  to  that  common  philosophy  which  always  pro- 
fessed, even  before  Hegel,  that  everything  which  is  real 
is  rational.  In  countries  such  as  England  or  the  United 
States,  where  the  democratic  regime  is  established  be- 
yond dispute,  and  liberty  occupies  an  unassailable 
position,  the  tenure  of  power  by  a  party  which  en- 
trenches itself  in  it  as  in  a  fortress  has  become  an 
anachronism,  and  the  pretended  necessity  of  this 
domination  of  party,  in  order  to  make  the  political 
principles  of  the  majority  prevail  in  government,  is 
no  longer  aught  but  a  pure  convention,  not  to  say  an 
imposition.  In  such  a  country  the  formula  attributed 
to  Gambetta,  "One  can  only  govern  with  one's  own 
party,"  is  as  meaningless  as  would  be  the  formula, 
"  One  can  only  go  to  law  before  one's  own  judges." 

216.   The  task  of  government  comprises  two  func-  Enforce- 
tions  —  to  make  laws  and  to  execute  them.     The  en-  ^^^ntoflaws 

t  /•    1       1  1 .        1       .  .  t      ^^  outside  of 

lorcement  of  the  laws  lies,  by  its  very  nature,  outside  party  di- 
all  divergence  of  political  principles ;   there  cannot  be  vergences. 
several  conceptions  or  several  ways  of  executing  the 
laws  under  a  rdgime  which  is  not  one  of  mere  arbitrari- 
ness.   There  does  not  appear,  therefore,  to  be  any 


440 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


k 


Legislation 
a  matter 
for  agree- 
ments ad 
hoc. 


treason  why  the  exercise  of  the  executive  power  should 

•  belong  to  one  party  more  than  to  another.  It  demands 
only  honest  and  capable  administrators. 

It  is  not  so  with  legislation.  The  divergences  which 
tend  to  split  the  community  into  different  camps  are 
natural,  necessary,  and  beneficial  here.  The  more  the 
regime  of  liberty  is  firmly  established  in  a  country,  the 
more  do  these  divergences  arise  spontaneously,  and 
the  more  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  find  a  solution,  that 
the  citizens  should  form  combinations  and  groups, 
and  do  battle  with  all  the  weapons  which  liberty  places 
at  their  disposal.  But  why  should  the  stake  of  these 
contests  be  power?  Power  can  only  be  obtained  by 
getting  a  majority ;  but  if  one  has  the  majority  on  one's 
side,  it  is  sufficient  to  carry  the  desired  reform  or  to 
prevent  that  which  is  dreaded.  Thanks  to  the  regime  of 
popular  sovereignty,  it  is  easy  to  bring  about  the  most 
sweeping  changes  in  the  legal  sphere  without  any  need 
for  anxiety  about  the  attitude  of  the  executive  power: 
whether  it  will  or  no,  it  is  bound  to  submit;   whereas 

.  in  non-popular  regimes  one  must  step  over  the  bodies 
of  the  holders  of  power  and  take  their  place  in  order 
to  obtain  a  change  in  the  established  order.     If,  for 

,  instance,  in  a  country  which  lives  under  the  economic 
regime  of  free  trade,  the  protectionists  wish  to  put  an 
end  to  it,  they  have  but  to  start  an  active  propaganda 
in  the  country,  and  as  soon  as  they  have  obtained  a 
majority  in  parliament,  the  latter  will  pass  as  high  a 
customs  tariff  as  the  victors  ordain.  Should  this  pro- 
tectionist party  be  bent,  moreover,  on  seizing  office,  it 
would  clearly  be  to  gratify  the  lust  of  power.  Once  in 
possession,  its  main  preoccupation  would  be  to  keep 


CONCLUSION  441 

itself  in  control ;  and  it  could  succeed  only  by  bringing 
in  its  train  all  the  evils  engendered  by  the  present  party 
system.  As  soon  as  a  party,  even  if  created  for  the 
noblest  object,  perpetuates  itself,  it  tends  to  degenera- 
tion. It  is  enough  to  recall  the  career  of  the  Republican/^^^^^ 
party  which  was  founded  by  the  Lincolns  to  combat '  7j 
slaveholding,  and  which,  through  having  perpetuated 
itself  after  it  had  solved  the  problem  of  slavery,  be- 
came a  hotbed  of  corruption.  ^^^ 

217.   This  being  so,  is  not  the  solution  demanded  by  No  stereo- 
the  problem  of  parties  an  obvious  one?     Does  it  not  ^^P^? 

..,.,.,  -  .  .  1     parties. 

consist  m  discardmg  the  use  of  permanent  parties  with 
power  as  their  aim,  and  in  restoring  and  reserving  to 
party  its  essential  character  of  a  combination  of  citizens  y 
formed  specially  for  a  particular  political  issue  ?  Party 
as  a  wholesale  contractor  for  the  numerous  and  varied 
problems,  present  and  to  come,  should  give  place  to 
special  organizations,  limited  to  particular  objects  and 
forming  and  re-forming  spontaneously,  so  to  speak, 
according  to  the  changing  problems  of  life  and  the 
play  of  opinion  brought  about  thereby.  Citizens  who 
part  company  on  one  question  would  join  forces  on 
another. 

The  basic  conditions  for  the  corruption  and  tyranny  Superiority 
enojendered  by  the  present  party  regime  will  disappear  ?^  single-  ^ 

.  1      1     .  .   ,  r  ,     f  1  .   ,    .  r   }^^^^  organi- 

with  their  material  foundation,  which  is  permanence  of  zations. 
organization,  and  their  moral  foundation,  which  is  the  ; 
conforming  habit  of  the  party  adherents.^CThe  tempo- 
rary and  special  character  of  the  parties  created  on 
the  new  method  will  not  permit  of  the  enrolment  and 
maintenance  of  those  standing  armies  with  whose  help 
power  was  won  and  exploited.     On  the  other  hand, 


442  DEMOCRACY   AND  THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

party  ''regularity"  will  no  longer  have  an  object:  per- 
manent homage  is  not  to  be  paid  to  what  is  transitory. 
No  longer  able  to  rely  on  sentimental  devotion  to  its 
name  and  style,  party  will  have,  in  spite  of  itself,  so 
to  speak,  to  rest  on  the  adhesion  of  minds  and  con- 
sciences to  something  well  defined,  to  a  clearly  speci- 
fied cause  identified  with  a  public  interest.     Enlisted 
\  in  the  exclusive  service  of  that  cause,  party  organiza- 
i  tion  will  revert  to  its  function  of  means  and  will  cease 
•  to  be  an  end ;  formerly  a  tyrannical  master,  it  will  have 
to  become  a  docile  servant.     The  problem  contained 
in  these  propositions  is  certainly  a  most  serious  and 
complex  one  and  requires  thorough  scrutiny.     I  have 
endeavoured  to  contribute  to  it  in  my  larger  work,^  to 
which  I  must  refer  the  reader  for  a  full  discussion  of 
the  subject.     Here  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  that  the 
substitution  of  special  and  more  elastic  organizations 
for  permanent  and  stereotyped  parties  appears  to  me 
fully  justifiable  in  reason,  within  the  range  of  practical 
possibility  in  a  future  not  too  remote,  and  qu^te  in 
accordance  with  the   tendencies   of   current   political 
evolution. 
The  exist-         2i8.   It  may  suffice  here  to  recall  the  strongest  argu- 
ing system     ment  in  favour  of  the  new  method,  the  argument  of 
is  collapsing.    .  ,  .     .  .         ,,        .  ,   ,, 

facts:  the  existmg  party  system  is  coliapsmg  and  the 
new  method  takes  shape  and  develops.  In  the  United 
States,  as  elsewhere,  the  old  parties  are  breaking  up; 
they  can  no  longer  contain  the  incongruous  elements 
brought  together  under  the  common  flag.  Intestinal 
strife,  schisms,  artifices  and  manoeuvres  intended  to 

^  Democracy  and  the  Organization  of  Political  Parties,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  651-695. 


CONCLUSION  443 

conceal  them  are  the  very  essence  of  their  existence. 
Incapable  of  welding  the  several  shades  of  opinion 
which  they  are  supposed  to  represent,  they  can  dis- 
charge no  longer  their  second  fundamental  function, 
which  is  to  serve  as  a  counterpoise  one  to  another 
and  thus  to  ensure  the  regular  play  of  political  forces. 
At  the  same  time  the  political  development  of  the 
United  States  is  paving  the  way  for  the  new  method  of 
political  action.  Its  basis  has  been  laid  in  the  struggles 
for  emancipation  in  the  form  of  '^  committees  of  seventy/' 
or  of  "one  hundred,"  of  the  "citizens'  movements,"  of 
the  "mugwumps,"  of  the  "leagues"  or  "civic  federa-  The  new 
tions,"  all  of  which  represented  free  associations  of  men  "^f^^^^ 

If  .      1  11      t^k^s  shape 

brought  together  for  a  particular  cause,  completely  and  de- 
setting  aside,  for  the  nonce,  their  views  on  other  po-  velops. 
litical  questions.  By  this  method  it  has  been  possible 
to  combine  all  the  living  forces  of  American  society  in 
the  struggle  against  political  corruption,  and  to  win 
victories  which  enable  us  not  to  despair  of  American 
democracy  and  of  the  government  of  the  people  by 
the  people.  In  the  sphere  of  great  national  questions, 
as  well  as  in  municipal  life,  everywhere  the  "leagues" 
have  been  the  instigators  of  the  civic  awakening;  all 
the  great  reforms  which  have  been  passed  to  purify 
political  life,  beginning  with  that  of  the  civil  service, 
are  due  to  their  initiative  or  to  their  efforts;  they  have 
broken  the  prescription  set  up  in  favour  of  party 
tyranny  and  corruption. 

The  old  system  of  stereotyped  parties,  though  worn 
out  and  rotten,  will  naturally  continue  for  a  time,  ac- 
cording to  a  common  law  of  development  which  shows 
that  an  institution  after  having  outlived  its  usefulness 


444  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

continues  by  sheer  force  of  inertia,  by  custom  despot- 
ically swaying  men's  minds.  It  is,  therefore,  impossible 
to  predict  when  the  old  method  will  give  way.  But 
one  thing  can  be  asserted  with  confidence:  the  more 
the  new  method  is  developed  the  easier  will  be  cured 
the  evils  afflicting  the  body  politic.  Independent  action 
in  public  life  through  free  combination  must  become 
/  the  slogan  of  American  democracy :  there  is  its  hope, 
\  there  is  its  future. 
Proposals  j^  219.  To  produce  their  full  effect  the  new  methods 
for  reform  ^£  political  action  must  be  completed  by  some  changes 
elective  in  legal  organization.  One  of  these  has  been  already 
system.  considered  —  the  preliminary  election  polls.    The  elec- 

tive system  requires  other  improvements.  This  need 
cannot  be  set  aside  by  the  development  of  direct  gov- 
ernment which  has  been  agitated  for  some  time  with  so 
much  energy.  Under  existing  civilization  the  various 
political,  social,  and  economic  problems  demanding 
legislation  are  mostly  of  too  complex  a  nature  to  be 
solved  in  their  details  by  the  people  at  large,  and  there 
is  no  prospect  that  in  the  near  future  the  Referendum 
and  the  Initiative  will  be  applied  beyond  limited  areas 
and  limited  ranges  of  questions.  A  continent-wide 
democracy  and  an  industrial  democracy  too,  as  is  the 
United  States,  is  necessarily  wedded  to  representative 
government.  Instead  of  taking  for  granted  "  the  fail- 
ure of  representative  government,"  it  is  of  the  utmost 
urgency  to  improve  that  government,  beginning  with 
the  elective  system. 

^The  first  and  greatest  reform  in  the  elective  system 
is  the  curtailment  of  the  system  itself,  the^  reduction 
of  the  number  of  elective  offices  to  a  minimum.;    With- 


CONCLUSION  445 

out  that  the  voter  will  remain  as  helpless  to  grapple 
with  the  ballot  and  as  easy  a  prey  to  the  politicians  as 
he  is  at  present.  All  the  administrative  offices  in  the 
State  government  as  in  the  local  and  municipal  gov- 
ernment ought  to  be  filled  by  appointment.  The  State 
and  municipal  assemblies,  too,  ought  to  be  reduced  to 
reasonable  membership.  Care  ought,  however,  to  be 
taken  not  to  run  to  the  opposite  extreme,  as  has  some- 
times happened  under  the  "commission  plan"  in 
municipal  government.  Executive  power  may  be  con- 
centrated as  much  as  possible,  but  so  much  the  closer 
it  needs  to  be  supervised  by  the  people's  representatives 
chosen  for  that  purpose  in  sufficient  numbers.  As  to 
the  judiciary  it  might  as  well  benefit  by  being  taken 
out,  to  a  certain  extent  at  least,  of  the  elective  system, 
or,  in  other  words,  of  politics.  Public  prosecutors, 
State  and  district  attorneys,  the  sentries  of  the  law, 
stand  perhaps  in  most  urgent  need  of  this  change. 
The  justices  of  the  lower  courts,  whose  jurisdiction 
brings  them  close  to  the  people,  might  continue  to  be 
invested  with  their  trust  by  the  people,  more  interested 
and  better  placed  for  testing  the  confidence  in  them. 
However,  their  term  of  office  ought  to  be  lengthened. 
Justices  of  the  supreme  courts  and  even  those  of  the 
courts  of  appeal,  the  last  refuge  of  the  wronged,  ought 
to  be  put  in  the  position  of  the  English  judge,  of 
whom  it  has  been  said  that  he  has  nothing  more  to 
hope  for  and  nothing  to  fear.  These  justices  should 
never  have  their  ermine  soiled  in  the  gutter  of  election- 
eering. If,  nevertheless,  their  election  should  be  consid- 
ered necessary,  they  ought  at  least  to  be  given  life  tenure. 
The  members  of  the  legislative  and  municipal  assem- 


44^  DEMOCRACY   AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

blies  representing  currents  of  opinion  of  a  more  or  less 
transitory  nature,  must,  of  course,  undergo  a  periodical 
trial  before  their  electors,  and  at  reasonable  intervals. 
But  if  the  elections  are  fixed  too  near  each  other,  the 
task  they  impose  on  the  voters  becomes  too  burden- 
some to  be  well  performed,  while  the  precariousness  of 
tenure  deters  rather  than  encourages  good  men  to  stand 
for  office.  To  improve  the  calibre  of  candidates  and 
to  enable  and  compel  the  voter  to  select  them  more 
thoughtfully,  elections  should,  apart  from  being  limited 
to  a  few  offices,  not  be  of  frequent  occurrence.  To 
keep  the  nation  and  its  representatives  in  touch  with 
one  another  in  spite  of  the  latter' s  longer  tenure  of 
office  it  would  be  enough  to  maintain  and  to  extend 
the  system  of  renewal  of  assemblies  by  instalments.  I 
would  accept  alike  for  the  United  States  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  the  term  of  six  years,  esta- 
blished for  the  Senate,  and  have  both  renewed  every 
three  years  by  halves,  and  for  the  State  legislatures 
and  municipal  assemblies  the  term  of  four  years  with 
two  biennial  instalments. 
Recall.  220.   In  proportion  to  the  greater  duration  of  the 

mandate  the  voter's  sense  of  responsibility  will  be  in- 
creased; but  may  not  the  mandate-holder's  be  de- 
creased? The  contrary  may  be  expected  from  the 
higher  calibre  of  the  candidates  attracted  by  the  longer 
tenure.  Besides,  a  special  power  may  be  found  for 
keeping  the  representative  all  the  time  up  to  the  mark 
by  giving  his  constituents  the  right  of  unseating  him 
at  any  moment.  That  means,  already  suggested  by 
Bentham,  which  I  have  advocated,^  has  since  been 

^  In  Democracy  and  the  Organization  of  Political  Parties,  1902. 
Vol.  II,  p.  711. 


CONCLUSION  447 

adopted  in  some  States  and  is  known  briefly  by  the 
name  of  Recall.  The  short  experience  of  the  new  in- 
stitution (in  California  and  elsewhere)  has  fully  justified 
it.  The  Recall  adopted  with  regard  to  municipal  officers 
in  some  cities  could  be  extended  with  no  less  reason  and 
probably  with  as  much  success  to  members  of  legislative 
assemblies.  A  petition  signed  by  a  certain  proportion  * 
of  voters  and  lodged  with  the  president  of  the  assem- 
bly should  cause  eo  ipso  the  vacation  of  the  seat  and 
the  ordering  of  a  new  election.  To  prevent  the  im- 
proper use  of  the  Recall  the  number  of  signatures 
required  should  be  fixed  at  a  high  enough  figure,  equal 
to  no  less  than  a  half  of  the  voters  at  the  last  election. 
If  a  smaller  number  were  allowed,  the  defeated  minor- 
ity might  endeavour  to  upset  the  election,  while  if  the 
member  no  longer  possesses  the  confidence  of  half  the 
electors  of  his  constituency  it  is  only  right  that  he 
should  lose  his  seat. 

The  electoral  system  in  the  strict  meaning  of  the  General 
term  might  also  very  profitably  be  improved.  The  old  *^^^^^ 
quarrel  between  the  partisans  of  the  general  ticket 
system  and  the  district  system  is  far  from  having  become 
objectless.  The  narrow  groove  of  the  district  and  ward 
system  from  which  evolve  the  representatives  of  the 
people  has  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  lowering  of 
the  standard  of  public  life  along  the  whole  line  from  the 
municipal  councils  to  Congress.  The  electoral  horizon 
must  be  elevated  above  the  parish  bell;  a  public  spirit 
must  be  developed  in  place  of  the  parochial  spirit.  That 
can  scarcely  be  achieved  without  extending  the  electoral 
areas.  1^  The  general  ticket,  however,  would  bring  about 
another  form  of  political  mischief;  it  would  favour  the 


44^  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

unbridled  rule  of  the  majority,  the  relentless  crushing 
out  of  minorities  and,  as  its  most  salient  expression,  party 
despotism.  The  general  ticket  must  be  supplied  with  a 
corrective.^  This  latter  is  ready  at  hand  in  the  form  of 
with  pro-  proportional  representation.  I  The  not  quite  satisfactory 
portional  experience  furnished  in  tliis  respect  by  the  States  of 
represen  a  jjjjj^^^jg  ^j^^  Pennsylvania,  where  the  system  has  been 
tried,  is  not  conclusive  at  all,  for  they  chose  the  crudest 
methods  of  minority  representation  —  the  cumulative 
vote  and  the  limited  vote.  More  perfect  systems  have 
been  adopted  in  several  European  countries.  The 
analysis  of  those  systems,  of  their  comparative  merits 
and  defects,  would  be  out  of  place  here.  To  hit  upon 
a  practical  plan  of  proportional  representation  which 
could  be  adopted  in  the  United  States  would  certainly 
demand  some  constructive  statesmanship,  but  it  is  not 
an  impossible  task.  I  would  only  add,  in  the  light  of 
experience,  that  in  establishing  such  a  system  atten- 
tion should  be  paid  to  three  conditions  which  it  must 
satisfy:  (i)  it  must  be  simple  enough  to  be  handled 
without  difficulty  by  the  average  voter;  (2)  but  it  must 
not  be  reduced  to  cut  and  dried  arrangements  or  deals 
between  parties  which  take  the  life  out  of  political  com- 
petitions and  struggles  necessary  not  only  for  attaining 
political  ends  but  also  for  carrying  on  the  political  edu- 
cation of  the  electorate;  (3)  and  last,  but  not  least,  the 
system  of  proportional  representation  adopted  must 
not  be  such  as  to  fortify  political  parties,  to  entrench 
them  in  their  positions  irrespective  of  their  principles. 
Preferential  221.  One  of  the  earliest  and  probably  the  greatest 
vote.  Qf  ^j^g  systems  of  proportional  representation,  that  pro- 

posed by  Thomas  Hare  and  expounded  by  a  more  illus- 


CONCLUSION  449 

trious  man,  John  Stuart  Mill,  contains  an  important 
point  which  may  be  applied  separately  under  any  of 
the  present  systems  of  majority  representation.  That 
is  the  preferential  vote,  or,  as  it  is  often  called,  the 
second  choice.  The  voter  may  return  but  one  mem- 
ber, but  he  is  free  to  put  on  his  ballot  the  names  of 
several  candidates  in  order  of  preference,  one  man  as 
his  first,  another  as  his.  second,  another  as  his  third 
choice.  If  none  of  the  candidates  of  the  first  choice 
has  polled  a  majority  of  votes,  the  votes  given  to  the  one 
heading  the  poll  as  second  choice  are  added.  If  in  spite 
of  that  he  has  still  a  deficit,  the  next  first  choice  is  taken 
into  account  with  his  subsidiary  votes  as  second  choice, 
and  so  on.  I  have  advocated  the  preferential  vote  at 
the  preliminary  polls  (minus  the  operation  of  the  trans- 
fer of  votes  not  needed  at  that  stage).  It  would  there 
be  of  great  assistance  in  offering  voters  hints  and 
directions  for  the  actual  election.  At  this  last  the  pref- 
erential and  transferable  vote  would  consummate  the 
emancipation  of  the  electors  from  the  Hobson's  choice 
of  regular  candidates  and  effect  the  concentration  of 
votes  as  a  result  of  a  wide,  free,  and  deliberate  selection. 
At  the  same  time  the  elected  candidate  would  be  the 
choice  of  a  majority  of  the  voters  and  no  longer  of  a 
minority,  as  occurs  frequently  under  the  existing  regime, 
which  must  by  necessity  content  itself  with  a  "plu- 
rality." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  preferential  vote  would  serve 
as  a  lever  for  elevating  political  manners.  It  would 
lead  even  the  most  party-ridden  elector  to  compare,  to 
judge,  to  marshal  the  various  shades  of  opinion  and  the 
merits  of  the  men.    As  the  second  or  third  choices  of  the 

2G 


450 


DEMOCRA.CY   AND    THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 


Changes 
in  the 
organiza- 
tion of  the 
Executive. 

The 

Presidency. 


elector,  to  be  effective,  would  have  to  fall  on  candidates 
of  more  or  less  different  complexion  to  his  own,  the  sys- 
tem of  preferences  would  widen  his  horizon  and  counter- 
act blind  sectarian  intolerance  and  narrow  cliquish 
exclusiveness.  Candidates,  in  their  turn,  having  to 
conciliate  electors  whose  opinions  do  not  tally  with 
their  own,  to  get  their  subsidiary  votes,  must  conduct 
their  campaigns  with  more  moderation  and  decency. 
Their  moderation  need  have  nothing  in  common  with 
the  opportunism  and  the  fence-riding  practised  nowa- 
days by  so  many  candidates  who  try  to  please  every- 
body :  to  succeed,  a  candidate  will  always  have  to  be 
put  in  the  first  line  by  a  considerable  number  of  elec- 
tors; and  he  cannot  become  their  choice  unless  he  in- 
spires them  with  implicit  confidence,  which  he  will  not 
by  equivocal  declarations  and  ambiguous  attitudes. 
The  top  line  or  first  choice  votes  will  come  from  the 
militant  party  men,  who  will  have  to  be  spoken  to 
plainly;  on  the  other  hand,  to  obtain  the  subsidiary 
votes  of  other  groups  of  electors,  the  candidate  will  be 
equally  obliged  to  state  frankly  how  far  the  agreement 
between  him  and  them  extends,  and  his  best  policy 
will  be  honesty  to  everybody. 

222.  The  organization  of  the  public  powers^requires 
not  less  urgently  some  important  changes.  yLTo  begin 
with  the  Executive  power  in  the  Federal  g<5^nment. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  must  be  set  free 
from  his  bondage  to  the  senatorial  bosses.  The  con- 
sent of  the  Senate  to  presidential  nominations  must 


r 


done  away  wrth;~the  President  must  be  given  the  power 
inijuye^iunder  the  new  municipaTpTans  by  a  mayor  of 
a  city,  to  appoint  to  offices  in  his  own  right  and  under 


CONCLUSION  451 

his  own  responsibility^  The  rescue  of  the  Federal 
service  from  politics  nfust  be  completed  by  submitting 
it  to  no  influence  but  that  of  the  Chief  Executive  and 
his  principal  officers  throughout  the  country,  and  to 
no  end  but  that  of  the  public  weal.  Not  only  from  the 
bosses  at  Washington  must  the  President  be  emanci- 
pated, but  from  the  party  Machine  altogether.  And 
that  cannot  be  achieved  so  long  as  the  President  looks 
for  re-election.  The  Presidential  term  should  be 
lengthened  to  seven  years,  and  the  re-election  of  the 
President  prohibited. 

frhe  chief  executive  officers,  the  members  of  the  Cabi-  Cabinet 
net  as  they  are  called,  should  be  given  free  access  to  [Ministers 
both  Houses  of  Congress  and  to  their  committees  to  g^gss. 
furnish  information  and  to  advocate  the  Administration 
measures^  The  isolation  of  the  executive  from  the  leg- 
islative power  would  thus  give  way  to  a  frank  co-opera- 
tion which  would  the  better  respect  the  constitutional 
separation  between  them.      Members   of   the   House 
would  be  cemented  through  that  new  association  more 
effectually  than  through  the  coarse  despotism  of  the 
chair  and  of  the  gang  gathered  round  it.     Parliamen- 
tary leadership  would  evolve  more  worthy  of  the  name 
than  the  miserable  counterfeit  supplied  by  the  Congres- 
sional caucus  and  the  House  oligarchy. 

223.   The  reform  of  the  United  States  Senate  has  been  Reform 
long  clamoured  for.  /JPhe  election  of  Senators  should  °^  *.^^ 
certainly  be  conferred  on  the  people  themselves,  but  states 
not  on  the  whole  mass  from  the  age  of   twenty-one  Senate, 
onwards.      The   Senate,  which  should  represent  the 
mature  thought  of  the  country,  ought  to  be  elected  by 
voters  who  have  reached  the  age  of  experience,  say  not 


452  DEMOCRACY   AND    THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

less  than  thirty- five  years.  1  With  this  limitation  the 
Senators  would  still  be  s^cted  by  not  fewer  than  ten 
millions  of  citizens. 

The  new  mode  of  election  of  the  United  States  Senate 
would  not  alone  suffice  to  bring  about  the  infusion  of 
new  and  purer  blood  of  which  it  is  in  so  great  need. 
The  part  which  that  high  assembly  has  to  play  differs 
greatly  from  the  one  the  Fathers  assigned  to  it  in  the 
economy  of  the  American  political  existence.  The  chief 
purpose  they  attributed  to  the  Senate,  along  with  that 
of  serving  as  a  check  on  popular  mutability  and  im- 
pulsiveness, was  to  represent  and  to  co-ordinate  the 
great  units  of  which  the  Union  was  made  up  —  the 
several  commonwealths.  This  end  became  almost 
objectless  with  the  obliteration  of  State  lines.  New 
forces,  numerous  and  complex,  arose  which  filled  up 
the  gap  between  the  citizen  and  the  supreme  govern- 
ment of  the  country,  social  and  economic  forces.  They 
needed  co-ordination  more  urgently  even  than  the  great 
political  entities  of  old.  The  United  States  Senate,  as 
created  by  the  Fathers,  was  the  instrument  for  equal- 
izing the  power  of  the  States,  large  and  small,  power- 
ful and  weak.  The  new  social  and  economic  condi- 
tions brought  about  antinomies  still  more  flagrant  and  of 
not  less  marked  material  shape.  It  came  to  pass  that 
the  strongest,  the  most  rapacious  of  the  new  forces 
— but  only  they — found  their  way  into  the  Senate,  en- 
trenched themselves  there.  The  Senate  became  repre- 
sentative of  the  great  economic  forces,  but  a  very  one- 
sided and  therefore  a  very  selfish  representative.  The 
weaker  economic  forces,  unlike  the  small  States,  have  no 
standing  at  all  in  that  assembly,  which  has  become  in  the 


CONCLUSION  453 

course  of  political  evolution  the  most  exalted  and  power- 
ful constitutional  body  and  consequently  the  supreme 
arbiter  between  the  conflicting  forces  in  the  community. 
Conflicts  are  getting  more  and  more  bitter,  clouds  are 
gathering  thick  in  the  social  sky,  and  it  is  on  the  arbit- 
raments of  the  Senate  that  social  peace  will  depend. 
But  how  can  fair  judgment  be  secured  if  the  represen- 
tation of  economic  interests  in  the  Senate  is  not  made 
broader?  And  how  can  such  a  representation  be 
established  ? 

224.  I  think  it  could  be  done,  and  without  break-  Associate 
ing  the  old  framework  of  the  Senate.  Its  basis  should  Senators, 
remain  unchanged,  every  State,  large  and  small,  keep- 
mg  its  two  representatives  in  the  high  Federal  chamber. 
/But  to  these  Senators  should  be  added  Associate  Sena- 
tors representing  directly  and  specially  the  great  social 
and  economic  forces  of  the  country  —  chambers  of 
commerce,  boards  of  trade,  manufacturers'  associa- 
tions, trades-unions,  granges,  churches,  —  not  as  eccle- 
siastical but  as  great  social  organizations,  — universities, 
bar  associations,  etcfj  Every  great  national  interest 
would  have  its  legitimate  spokesman  in  the  high  assem- 
bly, and  their  knowledge  of  the  special  conditions  with 
which  they  are  connected  would  bring  these  latter  to 
light  before  the  Senate  and  the  country.  The  co- 
ordination of  struggling  economic  forces,  so  far  as  it 
depends  on  legislation,  would  be  promoted  in  a  spirit  of 
fairness.  The  Trusts  themselves  could  plead  their 
cause,  they  would  only  be  challenged  to  come  out  in 
the  open  instead  of  working  out  their  ends  underhand 
as  now.  Organized  labour  too  should  have  the  oppor- 
tunity and  obligation  of  stating  and  of  proving  its  case. 


454  DEMOCRACY   AND   THE   PARTY    SYSTEM 

The  Associate  Senators  would  be,  above  all,  the 
authoritative  experts  on  the  great  social  and  economic 
problems  of  the  age.  To  prevent  them  losing  this 
character,  and  to  preclude  the  creation  of  a  new  breed 
of  politicians,  or,  at  all  events,  of  a  class  of  political 
mandarins,  it  would  be  well  to  limit  the  duration  of 
their  mandate  to  the  discussion  of  a  single  budget.  Such 
a  measure  would,  moreover,  facilitate  the  rotation  which 
it  would  be  necessary  to  establish  between  the  different 
sections  of  the  country,  for  appointing  special  repre- 
sentatives in  turns,  as  the  number  of  seats  that  might 
be  reserved  for  them  in  the  Senate  would  not  allow,  for 
instance,  trades-unions  of  every  industry  and  of  every 
region  to  be  all  represented  at  the  same  time.  Of 
course  the  Associate  Senators  while  sitting  in  the  Senate 
should  enjoy  exactly  the  same  privileges  as  the  Senators 
representing  the  States.  Their  number  could  be  fixed 
at  one  fourth,  or  even  at  one  third,  of  the  old  member- 
ship, but  not  more.  The  historic  foundation  of  the 
Senate  would  be  preserved,  not  only  as  a  memory 
of  times  contemporaneous  with  the  birth  and  growth 
of  the  Union,  but  as  an  actual  basis  of  the  structure 
harmoniously  blended  with  the  additional  building 
answering  the  call  of  the  age  and  the  wants  of  an  ever- 
developing  democracy. 
Duty  of  225.   The  most  sanguine  reformer  will  certainly  not 

the  Ameri-    expcct  that  changes  such  as    those    proposed  in  the 
racy.  political  methods  as  well  as  in  the  legal  organization 

could  be  soon  carried  out.  Any  change  in  the  political 
structure  and  social  habits,  even  if  not  hedged  by  a 
written  constitution  like  the  American,  requires  the  as- 
sistance of  time.     But  that  is  no  reason  for  giving  up 


CONCLUSION  455 

the  idea  of  reform  and  its  advocacy  or  for  making  light 
of  it.  The  eternal  striving  towards  improvement,  the 
''holy  discontent,'*  as  the  poet  puts  it,  with  actual  con- 
ditions is  the  source  of  life  for  a  progressive  community. 
The  direction  of  the  path  of  progress  has  to  be  rightly 
discerned,  the  feasible  has  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
Utopian,  but  the  magnitude  of  the  task  should  never  be 
a  plea  for  its  abandonment.  It  is  rather  only  an  ad- 
ditional reason  for  arduous  work.  The  result  as  ex- 
pressed by  the  achievement  of  the  reforms  aimed  at 
may  be  far  and  distant,  but  the  agitating  of  great  prob- 
lems of  public  welfare,  their  discussion  alone,  is  a  great 
practical  result;  it  generates  the  motive  power  of  a 
free  community  —  public  spirit.  For  securing  a  con- 
tinual flow  of  this  spirit  the  machinery  of  institutions, 
even  of  the  freest,  is  not  sufficient.  In  the  process  of 
their  working,  public  spirit  is  rather  apt  to  slacken. 
In  a  democracy,  nay  especially  in  a  democracy,  the 
citizen  is  like  a  factory  hand  who,  lulled  to  sleep  by  the 
regular  play  of  the  engine,  drops  insensibly  the  crank 
and  lets  the  machine  run  at  random.  To  keep  the 
citizen  up  to  the  mark,  to  keep  him  awake,  the  cry  of 
social  want,  the  voice  of  political  discussion  fed  by 
political  thought,  must  ring  always  in  his  ears.  The 
problems  examined  here  ought,  therefore,  to  be  steadily 
before  the  American  democracy.  By  ceaseless  investi- 
gating and  sifting  them  the  way  will  be  prepared  for 
the  advent  of  the  real ''  manifest  destiny  "  of  the  United 
States  as  a  lasting  abode  of  human  freedom,  and  the 
Americans  will  pay  the  debt  they  owe  to  themselves 
and  to  humanity. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

Suggestions  for  advanced  students  on  the  subject  of  this 
book  will  be  found  in  the  author's  larger  work  Democracy  and 
the  Organization  of  Political  Parties,  Vol.  II,  which  is  provided 
with  numerous  references  in  the  footnotes.  The  titles  of  some 
of  the  books  and  articles  mentioned  there,  with  the  addition  of 
a  few  others,  are  also  given  here,  for  the  convenience  of  the 
reader,  without  any  pretension,  however,  to  supplying  a  full  or 
a  systematic  bibliography  of  the  subject.  There  are  very  few 
monographs  on  the  questions  dealt  with  in  the  present  book,  and 
the  information  relating  to  most  of  them  is  scattered  through- 
out general  works  on  American  history  and  pohtics  and  in 
innumerable  files  of  periodicals  and  official  documents. 

[Chap.  L]    The  First  Party  Organizations 

M.  OsTROGORSKi's  article  in  the  American  Historical  Review, 

January,  1900 :    The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Nominating 

Caucus,  Congressional  and  Legislative. 
G.  D.  LuETSCHER.    Early  PoHtical  Machinery  in  the  United 

States.     1903. 
F.  W.  Dallinger.    Nominations  for  Elective  Offices.     1897. 

Part  I. 

[Chaps.  II  aijd  III.]    Establishment  and  Development  of  the 
Convention  System 

M.  Carey.    The  Olive  Branch.     loth  edition.     1818. 
T.  Benton.    Thirty  Years'  View.     1857. 
Thurlow  Weed.    Autobiography.     1884. 
J.  Parton.    Life  of  Andrew  Jackson.     1883. 
W.  G.  Sumner.    Andrew  Jackson.     1896. 
Journal  of  the  National  Republican  Convention  which  assem- 
bled in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  Dec.  12,  1831.    Washington. 
457 


458  BIBX.IOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

H.  Greeley  and  J.  Cleveland.    A  Political  Text-book  for 

i860. 
C.  R.  Fish.    The  Civil  Service  and  the  Patronage.    1905. 
C.  ScHURZ.    Life  of  Henry  Clay.     1896. 
G.  W.  JULLA.N.    Political  Recollections.     1884. 
G.  S.  Merriam.    The  Life  and  Times  of  S.  Bowles.    1885. 

Vol.  I. 

[Chaps.  IV  and  V.]     The  Evolution  of  the  Convention  System 

C.  R.  Fish.    Op.  cit.  (for  the  history  of  the  Spoils  System). 

W.  H.  Lamon.    The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.     1872. 

G.  W.  JuLMN.    Op.  cit. 

G.  S.  Merriam.    Op.  cit.    Vol.  11. 

J.  W.  Du  BosE.    The  Life  and  Times  of  W.  L.  Yancey.     1892. 

G.  W.  Dyer.    Democracy  in  the  South  before  the  Civil  War. 

1905. 
P.  J.  Hamilton.    The  Reconstruction  Period.     1905. 
J.  S.  Reynolds.    Reconstruction  in  South  Carolina.     1905. 
W.  L.  Fleming.    Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  in  Alabama. 

1905. 
G.  Myers.    The  History  of  Tammany  Hall.     1901. 
C.    F.    Wingate.    An    Episode    in    Municipal    Government, 

North  American  Review,  1874,  1875,  1876. 

E.  P.  Allinson  and  B.  Penrose.    City  Government  in  Phila- 

delphia.    1887. 
Lincoln  Steffens.    The  Shame  of  the  Cities.     1904. 

The  Struggle  for  Self-government.     1906. 

J.  J.  Chapman.    Causes  and  Consequences.     1898. 

[Chaps.  VI-X.]    Party  Machinery  and  Its  Working 

F.  Dallinger.    Op.  cit.,  Part  11. 

J.  Macy.     Party  Organization  and  Machinery.     1904. 
J.  A.  WooDBURN.    PoUtical  Parties.     1906.    Parts  H  and  IH. 
T.  H.  MacKee.    National  Conventions.     1901. 
E.  Stanwood.    a  History  of  the  Presidency.     1898. 
MuRAT  Halstead.    Caucuses  of  i860.    A  History  of  the  Na- 
tional Conventions. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  459 

Official  Proceedings  of  the  National  Conventions,  say  of  1884, 
1^6,  1908. 

[Chaps.  XI-XII.]    The  Politicians  and  the  Machine 

W.  IviNS.    Machine  Politics.     1887. 

T.  Roosevelt.  Essays  on  Practical  Politics.  1888.  (Re- 
printed in  American  Ideals  and  other  essays.     1897.) 

J.  Wanamaker.  Speeches  on  Quayism  and  Boss  Domination 
in  Pennsylvania  Politics.     1898. 

J.  J.  Chapman.    Op.  cit. 

Lincoln  Stefpens.    Op.  cit. 

[Chap.  XIV.]    Struggles  against  Corruption 

George  S.  Merrlam.    Op.  cit.    Vol.  II. 

G.  W.  Julian.    Op.  cit. 

Report  of  the  National  Executive  Committee  of  Republicans 

and    Independents.      Presidential     Campaign    of    1884. 

New  York,  1885. 
Junius  (D.  B.  Eaton).    The  Independent  Movement  in  New 

York.     1880. 
National    Conference    for    Good    City  Government.    Annual 

Proceedings.     Philadelphia. 

[Chap.  XV.]    Legislative  Reforms  against  Corruption 

C.  R.  Fish.    The  Civil  Service  and  the  Patronage.     1905. 
National  Civil  Service  Reform  League.    Annual  Proceedings 

and  several  publications  of  the  New  York  Civil  Service 

Reform  Association. 
The  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission.    Annual  Reports. 
National  Conference  on  Primary  Election  Reform.     New  York, 

1898. 
Chs.  E.  Merriam.     Primary  Elections.     1908. 
A.  Stickney.    Democratic  Government.     1885. 

D.  C.  McMillan.    The  Elective  Franchises  in  the  United 

States.     1898. 


460  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL   NOTE 

W.  IviNS.    On  the  Electoral  System  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

1906.     (A  paper  presented  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 

New  York  State  Bar  Association.) 
Report  of  the  Commission  on  Laws  relating  to  Direct  Primaries 

and  Corrupt  Practices  at  Elections,  made  to  the  General 

Assembly  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  January,  1907. 
G.  Haynes.    The  Election  of  Senators.     1906. 
A.  LuDiNGTON.    Present  Statute  of  Ballot  Laws  in  the  United 

States,  American  Political  Science  Review,  May,  1909. 
J.  R.  Commons.    Proportional  Representation.     1907. 
A.  R.  CoNKLiNG.     City  Government.     1899. 

D.  B.  Eaton.    The  Government  of  MunicipaHties.     1899. 
Fr.  Goodnow.     City  Government  in  the  United  States.     1904. 
H.  Deming.    The  Government  of  American  Cities.     1909. 
Boston  Finance  Commission.     Report  to  the  General  Court. 

1909. 
Proceedings  (annual)  of  the  National  Conference  for  Good  City 
Government.    Philadelphia. 

[Chaps.  XVI  and  XVII.]    General  Works 

J.  Bryce.    The  American  Conmionwealth. 

W.  Wilson.    Constitutional  government  in  the  United  States. 

1908. 
P.  S.  Reinsch.    Legislatures  and  Legislative  Methods.     1904. 
H.  Croly.    The  Promise  of  American  Life.     1909. 
H.  J.  Ford.    Rise  and  Growth  of  American  PoHtics.     1898. 
H.  MiJNSTERBERG.     The  Americans.     1905. 
H.  G.  Wells.    The  Future  of  America.     1906. 
C.  W.  Eliot.    American  Contributions  to  Civilization.     1897. 

E.  L.  Godkin.     Problems  of  Modern  Democracy.     1896. 
Unforeseen  Tendencies  of  Democracy.     1898. 

A.  Shaw.     Political  Problems  of  American  Development.    1907. 
J.  G.  Lalor.     Cyclopaedia  of  PoHtical  Science.     1881-1884. 

Many  important  articles  will  be  found  in  the  monthly  maga- 
zines and  in  the  special  poHtical  science  periodicals :  Political 
Science  Quarterly,  The  American  Political  Science  Review,  Annals 
of  the  Academy  of  Political  Science,  The  Municipal  Ajffairs. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  461 

On  some  topics  (such  as  Primaries,  Corrupt  Practices,  Propor- 
tional Representation,  Initiative,  Referendimi,  etc.)  special 
bibliographies  have  been  published  by  the  Congressional  Li- 
brary in  Washington  and  by  the  Wisconsin  Free  Library  Com- 
mission, Legislative  Reference  Department,  in  Madison. 

Information  about  the  new  laws  enacted  in  the  several  States 
may  be  gathered  from  the  Index  and  Summary,  published 
annually  by  the  New  York  State  Library  in  Albany. 


INDEX 


Abstention,  civic,  of  the  €Ute  of  so- 
ciety 31 ;  from  voting  222.  See 
Better  element. 

Adams  (John  Quincy)  17,  20. 

Adams  (Samuel)  4. 

Americans,  character  148,  183,  192, 
227,  388,  391,  392,  400,  401,  409- 
411,  413. 

"Assessments"  on  office-holders  68, 
69,  70,  71,  76,  214,  269,  326,  330, 

331,  333- 

Australian  Ballot  208,  209,  211,  331, 

332,  333,  334.  431. 
Availability,  of  candidates  for  office 

40,  52,  129,  154,  387. 

Ballot,  see  Australian  Ballot;  Mas- 
sachusetts ballot  333 ;  blanket- 
ballot  334. 

Benton,  Senator  42,  47. 

Better  element,  its  civic  abstention 
31,  274-278;  signs  of  improve- 
ment 31S,  319,  419,  420. 

Betting  about  elections  202. 

Blaine,  J.  G.  134. 

"Bolting,"  in  primaries  112,  122  ;  at 
elections  216 ;  great  bolts  299-301 ; 
bolting  the  legislative  caucus,  287. 

Boodle  aldermen  86,  375. 

Boom,  of  Presidential  candidates 
140,  151- 

Boss.  Evolution  of  bossism  93-97, 
259 ;  analysis  of  the  boss  231-233, 
250-260,  262,  263,  413  ;  anti-boss 
movement  315,  317,  318;  in  the 
U.  S.  Senate  95,  368. 

"Boys"  in  the  party  Machine  230. 

Bribery  and  corruption,  in  Congress 
and  State  Legislatures  87,  88,  89, 
372;  in  primaries  no,  114,  115; 
in  conventions  124,  142  ;  in  elec- 
tions 206-213  ;   laws  against  210. 


Buchanan,  President  38,  68. 
Buncombe  184,  371. 
Burr  (Aaron)  18,  22. 

Cabinet  ministers  in  Congress  362, 
451. 

Caesarism,  its  prospects  414. 

Calhoun  38,  41. 

Campaign  funds  163,  213  s.,  352,  431. 

Campaign  literature  194. 

Candidates,  choice  of,  original 
methods  5 ;  in  caucuses  and  con- 
ventions, see  Caucus,  Conventions ; 
in  the  South  before  the  war  55. 
Present  system  :  in  primaries  104 ; 
in  direct  primaries  117,  342-349; 
in  conventions  118,  119,  125-130; 
in  national  conventions  138-140, 
154;  dependence  from  the  Ma- 
chine 244 ;  recommendation  by 
civic  leagues  311 ;  under  the 
Australian  system  332  ;  new  plans 
348,  349,  432.  Contributions  to 
the  party  funds  69,  213.  Personal 
part  in  the  campaign  204. 

Canvass,  electoral  203-206. 

"Carpet-bagger"  56,  57, 

Caucus,  origins  3 ;  Nominating  cau- 
cus :  legislative  6,  14,  15  ;  congres- 
sional 7-14  ;  Legislative  caucus  : 
evolution  7,  282-284 ;  actual  work- 
ing 287-292,  371 ;  superseded  by 
the  hierarchy  285-287,  290,  371. 
See  Primaries. 

Caucus  system,  see  Machine,  Organi- 
zation. 

Centralization,  after  the  Civil  War, 
poUtical  59,  418  ;  economic  59,  86, 
418  ;  favouring  the  Caucus  system 
60 ;  centralizing  tendencies  brought 
about  by  the  party  system  379; 
checks  414,  418. 


463 


464 


INDEX 


"Chinese  business"  in  election  cam- 
paigns ig8. 

Cincinnati  convention  of  1872,  296. 

Civic  leagues  310,  443. 

Civil  service,  see  Spoils  system. 

Civil  service  reform  66,  69,  322- 
330. 

Classes,  social.  Separation  of  classes 
favours  the  Machine  272. 

Clay  (Henry)  28,  32,  40,  402. 

Clergy,  in  politics  10,  196. 

Cleveland  (Grover)  66,  91,  99,  153 
«.,  299,  300,  327. 

Clubs,  political,  of  the  colonial  period 
3 ;  permanent  party  clubs  104, 
166  ;  campaign  clubs  34,  168-170  ; 
women's  clubs  173,  174. 

Commission  plan  of  municipal  gov- 
ernment 356,  445. 

"Committee  of  One  Hvmdred"  at 
Philadelphia  307. 

"Committee  of  Seventy"  305-307. 

Committees  (party)  27  ;  in  the  local 
organization  106,  164,  165 ;  of 
the  conventions  122,  123  ;  of  the 
national  convention  145  ;  national 
committee  132,  136,  162 ;  Con- 
gressional campaign  conmiittee  164. 

Committees,  legislative,  in  Congress 
184,  285,  286;  in  State  legisla- 
tures 291 ;  steering  committee  288, 
290. 

Conformity,  political,  developed  by 
the  Caucus  system  391-393. 

Congressional  campaign  committee 
164. 

Congressional  caucus,  see  Caucus. 

Congress  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  President  62-64,  366,  367,  381 ; 
opposition  385 ;  party  discipline 
387.  See  Senate,  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, Caucus. 

Conkling  (Roscoe)  65,  254. 

Conservatism  of  American  constitu- 
tion and  society  393. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States  i, 
383,  393,  414 ;  organization  of  the 
public  powers  8  n. 

"Contributions"  of  office-holders, 
see  Assessments ;  of  candidates 
69,  213 ;  of  corporations  87-92, 
96,  214,  215,  269,  396. 


Conventions,  of  delegates  for  the 
choice  of  candidates.  Beginnings 
14,  16;  development  24  5. ;  first 
National  conventions  27-30 ; 
effects  of  the  new  system  30-32, 
38,  42  ;  manoeuvres  of  the  profes- 
sional politicians  2,i,  38,  39 ;  jug- 
gling with  the  slavery  problem  45, 
48;  in  the  South  before  the  war 
54;  present  structure  and  work- 
ing 1 18-125;  legal  regulation  117, 
131,  341 ;  National  convention 
133-160;  plans  of  reform  350. 

Corporations,  industrial  companies, 
corrupt  operations  in  mvmicipal 
administration  86  s. ;  work  through 
party  organizations  87,  92,  292, 
37S>  396  ;  see  Protectionists,  Rail- 
roads, Trusts ;  develop  the  Boss 
96 ;  contribute  to  the  Machine 
269;  to  campaign  funds  214,  352, 
431. 

Corresponding  committees  4. 

Cowardice,  political  391. 

Crawford,  presidential  candidate 
12. 

Crawford  county  plan  for  direct 
nominations  342. 

Curtis,  G.  W.  330. 

"Cut  and  dried"  107,  124. 

"Dark  horses"  42,  139,  155. 

"Deals"  of  politicians  125,  '243,  372, 
386. 

Declaration  of  Independence  404. 

Delegates,  see  Conventions. 

Democracy,  and  the  Fathers  i, 
9  n.,  425 ;  democratic  impetus 
after  1801,  11 ;  democratic  feeling 
inflamed  by  Jackson  20;  brings 
about  universal  suffrage  and  the 
extension  of  the  elective  principle 
25,  376;  monopolized  by  "poli- 
ticians" 30  s. ;  conditions  in  the 
slave-holding  South  52 ;  oppor- 
tunism of  leaders  40,  388 ;  power 
slipped  away  from  the  people  42, 
365,  398 ;  advent  of  plutocracy  i, 
395  ;  why  the  people  acquiesced 
398  ;  havoc  mitigated  412  ;  recent 
movement  for  more  democracy 
342,  350 ;    improvement  achieved 


INDEX 


465 


419 ;  conditions  of  further  progress 
420 ;  inadequate  political  methods 
422 ;  elective  system  pushed  to 
extremes  423  s. ;  obsolete  and 
irrational  party  system  436  s. ; 
public  spirit  455 ;  present  duty 
454. 

Democratic  party,  and  Jackson  17 ; 
revolt  against  32  ;  allied  to  the 
slaveholders  39 ;  divided  on  the 
extension  of  slavery  44 ;  in  the 
South  after  the  war  57  ;  against 
Protection  99 ;  for  Silver  92,  300 ; 
Gold  Democrats  300;  decomposi- 
tion 97-100. 

Direct  legislation  movement  350,  378, 
444;  appeal  to  the  people  317,  318 ; 
direct  nominations,  direct  prima- 
ries 104,  117,  342  s.,  348,  349. 

Discipline  (party)  31,  97,  161,  233, 
292,  386.    See  Party,  Regularity. 

"Doubtful"  States  155, 180,  204,  207, 
221 ;  doubtful  electors  187,  196, 
204. 

Dummies  of  the  Machine  242. 

Election  campaign  161  5. 

Election  expenditure  210,  213,  330, 
352,  430.  See  Assessments,  Bri- 
bery, Campaign  fimds.  Contribu- 
tions. 

Election  law,  see  Suffrage,  Regis- 
tration, Election  expenditure.  Bri- 
bery, Vote. 

Elective  system,  extended  under 
democratic  impulse  25  ;  pushed  far 
268,  376 ;  tendencies  toward  cur- 
tailing 350,  356 ;  plans  of  reform 
360-362,  444-450 ;  preliminary 
election  stage  425 ;  hypertrophy 
of  the  system  364,  422  ;  how  car- 
ried out,  thanks  to  party  organiza- 
tion 364;  how  ruined  by  the  old 
party  system  426,  436 ;  fallacy  of 
election  all-round|principle  422-425. 

Electoral  college  9  «.,  17. 

Eloquence,  political,  at  conventions 
123,  148-15 1  ;  in  election  cam- 
paigns 180-188. 

Emancipation,  struggles  for  emanci- 
pation from  the  yoke  of  the  Ma- 
chine 294-363. 


Emblems  (party)  in  election  cam- 
paigns 138,  201 ;  on  voting-papers 
335. 

English  party  organization,  Ameri- 
can organization  compared  with 
130,  160,  165,  166,  17s,  191. 

Era  of  good  feeling  10,  loi. 

Executive  power,  and  the  Machine 
24s ;  tendency  to  enhance  it  at 
the  expense  of  the  legislative  power 
377-378.    See  President. 

"Favourite  sons,"  "Favourites"  138- 
140,  148. 

Federalists  7,  8,  9,  10,  11. 

Federative  organization,  bulwark  of 
liberty  414. 

"Figure-heads"  of  the  Machine  242. 

Foreign  element,  strengthened  the 
party  organizations  43  ;  in  Tam- 
many Hall  75 ;  naturalization 
frauds  and  laws  178;  election 
speeches  and  literature  183,  196; 
as  a  factor  in  political  corruption 
273 ;  assimilation  through  party 
365. 

Franchises,  see  Corporations. 

Frauds,  electoral  79,  108,  175,  177, 
211,  341,  346.  See  Australian 
Ballot,  Vote. 

"Free  Soil  party"  47. 

Free  Trade,  see  Protectionism. 

Garfield,  President  63,  298,  324. 
Gas  Ring  of  Philadelphia  82-84. 
General  ticket  system  447. 
"Getting   the   delegates"    124,    127, 

191,  372. 
Graft  and  grafters  84. 
Grant,    President   57,    64,   96,    297 ; 

29s;  323- 
Greeley  (Horace)  296. 

Harrison  (Benjamin),  President  67, 

153  «• 
Harrison  (General),  President  33,  34, 

36. 
Hayes,  President  64,  323. 
Hearst,  W.  R.  316,  319. 
"Heelers"  in  the  Machine  231. 
Henchmen    in    the    Machine    231- 

233. 


466 


INDEX 


House  of  Representatives.  Powers 
of  the  Speaker  and  of  the  "  organi- 
zation" 286;  role  of  the  Caucus 
287 ;  subjugated  by  the  Senate 
369 ;  enslaved  to  its  own  "organi- 
zation" 371 ;  other  degrading  fac- 
tors 372  ;  party  discipline  386. 

Hughes,  governor  of  New  York  318, 
382. 

Idealism,  American  329,  401  s. 
Imperialism  100,  302,  418. 
Independence  of  the  voters,   stifled 

31 ;     developed    300,    314,    319, 

420. 
Independents,  against  corruption  of 

the  parties  297  s.,  307  s. 
Initiative  350,  444. 
Inspectors  or  judges  of  elections  107, 

211,  339- 
"Insurgents,"   in   Congress    286   n., 

386  ;  in  State  Legislatures  291. 

Jackson,  President  20,  21,  22,  23. 
Jefferson,  President  8,  10,  11. 
Jenckes,   promoter  of  Civil   Service 

Reform  322. 
Judiciary  (the),  elected  70,  119,  126; 

and  the  Machine   237,   248,   260, 

375 ;  plan  of  reform  445. 

Kitchen  cabinet,  Jackson's  29. 

La  Follette  (R.)  318. 

"Leader"  in  the  Machine  229,  233- 
240. 

Leadership,  before  the  triumph  of 
democracy  5,  7,  9,  10,  15,  23  ;  in 
the  South  53,  58 ;  opportunism  of 
the  leaders  40,  192,  388;  decay 
imder  the  party  system  387-391  ; 
free  leadership  of  the  "self-ap- 
pointed committees,"  civic  leagues, 
etc.  306,  420. 

Leagues,  free  organizations,  see  Civic 
leagues. 

Legislature,  and  the  Executive,  see 
President,  Senate,  Separation  of 
powers.  Discredit  of  legislative 
assemblies  377  ;  changes  proposed 
in  the  electoral  system  445  s. 

Legislatures  (State),  nominated  can- 


didates 6,  14 ;  Machine-ridden  247, 
262,  320;  party  caucus,  289-291; 
failure  374,  377 ;  their  powers  re- 
stricted 359 ;  plan  of  election 
445- 

Liberty,  individual.  Its  share  in  the 
making  up  of  America  404-408 ; 
safe  from  the  Machine  regime  413  ; 
decrease  417. 

"Liberty  party"  47. 

Lincoln  (Abraham)  49,  51,  52,  321, 
322,  406. 

"Lobby"  88,  97,  115,  291,  374. 

Local  interests  paramount  in  Con- 
gress 373- 

Local  self-government  and  autonomy 
379,  418. 

Low  (Seth),  82,  309,  348. 

"Machine"  60,  229;  hierarchy  230; 
discipline  233;  "leader"  at  work 
233-240 ;  strategy  240-244  ;  power 
over  candidates  244 ;  executive 
offices  245 ;  legislative  assemblies 
247  ;  judiciary  248  ;  havoc  in  mu- 
nicipal administration  260,-  in  leg- 
islatures 262  ;  revolts  263  ;  checks 
264 ;  elements  of  the  Machine's 
p)ower  analyzed  268-279 ;  in  ser- 
vice of  plutocracy  279. 

Marcy,  Senator,  and  to  the  victors 
the  spoils  22. 

Masses,  and  the  Machine  236-240, 
270-274  ;  morality  and  intelligence 
430. 

Materialism,  American  59,  399  s. 

McKinley,  President  67,  91,  99,  loi, 
301.  327,  381. 

Meetings,  public,  diunng  election 
campaigns  180. 

Methods,  poUtical,  responsible  for 
the  failures  of  democracy  422 ; 
new  methods  of  free  cooperation 
297,  301,  306,  314,  443,  444- 

Ministers  in  Congress  362,  451. 

Monroe,  President  10,  11,  24. 

Mugwimips  299,  300,  314.  See  In- 
dependents. 

Municipal  government,  exploited  by 
politicians  and  speculators  72-87  ; 
and  the  Machine  248,  260 ;  strug- 
gles against  mxmicipal  corruption 


INDEX 


467 


305-314/320;   schemes  of  munid- 
pal  reform  352-358,  445- 

National  Committee  132,  136,  162. 
National    convention,    see    Conven- 
tions. 
National  Republicans  28. 
Naturalization,  of  foreigners  79,  178. 
Negroes,  see  Slavery,  South. 
Nomination  for  oflSce,  see  Candidates. 

OjOSce-holders,  monopolize  the  party 
organization  30.  See  Spoils  system, 
Assessments,  Machine,  Civil  Ser- 
vice Reform. 

Opposition,  in  Congress  385. 

Optimism,  American  277,  400,  419. 

Organization,  of  parties.  Origins  4  ; 
evolution,  see  Caucus,  Conventions ; 
working,  see  Primaries,  Conven- 
tions, Committees,  Clubs,  Election 
campaign ;  balance-sheet  364 ; 
House  "organization,"  see  Caucus. 

Parties,  political.  Origins  4 ;  see 
Federalists,  Republicans;  era  of 
good  feeling  and  break-up  of  the 
parties  10,  16;  reconstituted  arti- 
ficially 17  ;  Democrats  17,  National 
Republicans  28  ;  Whigs  29  ;  kept 
together  by  the  "spoils"  24,  38; 
split  on  the  slavery  question  44, 
and  dissolve  46,  48 ;  anti-slavery 
parties  46 ;  Republican  party  47. 
Recovery  of  the  Democratic  party 
and  "Solid  South"  57;  moral 
decomposition  of  the  Republicans 
and  the  Democrats  97-103,  386. 
Legal  regulation  116,  117,  427-432. 
General  character  of  the  great 
parties  384. 

Party,  Pope's  definition  395  ;  nature 
of  427  ;  test  of  membership  340 ; 
party  feeling,  exaltation  of  42, 
after  the  Civil  War  60,  cooled 
down  at  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century  loi,  320 ;  party 
loyalty  215  s.;  party  fetichism 
408-412,  420.  —  Party  government 
not  secured  380;  recent  theory 
j8o.;  unpropitious  Americaai  con- 
ditions 383 ;    party  discipline,  see 


Discipline.  Incorporation  into  the 
State  342,  427-432.  —  Party  sys- 
tem criticized  435-443 »  reform 
suggested  441-444. 

Patriotism  59,  183,  193,  401,  408. 

Patronage,  see  Spoils.  Presidential 
13,  38 ;  and  the  Machine  235,  245- 
247,  268. 

Pierce,  President  38. 

"Pivotal"  States  155,  207. 

Platform,  party  programme  123, 147 ; 
letter  of  acceptance  148. 

Plutocracy  i,  100,  loi,  279,  314,  368, 
395-398,  415. 

Police,  relations  with  the  Rings  and 
the  Machine  81,  84,  236,  237,  262. 

Police  power  of  government  378,  417, 
428,  429. 

Political  education  191-196.  See 
Press,  School. 

Political  Uterature  164,  194. 

Politicians,  originated  in  New  York 
17-20;  and  Jackson  21 ;  and  the 
convention  system  26,  30 ;  sepa- 
ration from  the  society  at  large  32, 
161,  223;  opportunism  33,  38-40; 
in  the  slave-holding  South  54 ;  after 
the  war  56,  58 ;  plundering  public 
property,  see  Rings,  Graft,  Cor- 
porations. —  Genesis  and  career  of 
the  poHtician  225-230;  hierarchy 
230;  the  "leader"  233. 

Polk,  President  39,  42. 

Polls,  preliminary  election  polls  by 
parties  179;  preliminary  nomina- 
tion polls,  plan  of  432-435. 

Populists  303. 

Preferential  vote  448. 

President.  Mode  of  election  8  n. 
Nomination  by  Congressional  cau- 
cus 7  J. ;  by  National  Convention 
26 ;  and  the  party  organization  61 ; 
and  Congress  62,  366,  367,  378, 
381 ;  and  the  judiciary  375  ;  posi- 
tion under  the  party  system  365 ; 
constitutional  changesproposed450. 

Press  185,  1885.,  276. 

Primaries,  in  the  party  organization 
104-117;  legal  regulation  of  116, 
336-341,  426  ;  direct  primaries  117, 
119,  131,  136,  343-348,  358;  non- 
partisan primaries  349,  357,  433. 


468 


INDEX 


Prohibitionists  173,  304,  316. 

Proportional  representation  361,  448. 

Protectionism  90,  99,  294,  295,  381, 
382,  394,  397.  422. 

Publicity  as  a  remedy  against  cor- 
ruption 317. 

PubUc  opinion  153,  160,  242,  263- 
26s,  320,  366,  386,  391-395,  416, 
420. 

Public  spirit,  and  U,  S.  Senate  367 ; 
and  democracy  455.  See  Inde- 
pendence. 

"Pulls"  of  the  Machine  236,  237. 

Railroads,  in  politics  88. 

Recall  35 1,  446. 

Referendum  350,  359,  361,  444. 

Reformers  243,  310,  321,  335,  358. 

Registration,  electoral  174-177. 

"Regularity"  (party)  31,  42,  54,  57, 
69,  75,  76,  84,  no,  216,  285,  314, 
358,  392,  394- 

Representative  government,  failure 
of  350,  355,  374,  377,  378,  444; 
tendency  to  restrict  its  sphere  354- 
357,  359,  378. 

Republicans  (anti-Federalists)  8,  10. 
National  Republicans  28 ;  Demo- 
cratic Republicans  (Jacksonians) 
28.  —  Republican  party  against 
slavery,  formed  47 ;  invaded  by 
professional  politicians  51 ;  in  the 
South  after  the  war  55-58;  pro- 
found corruption  64 ;  tool  of  Pro- 
tectionists J  91 ;  moral  disintegra 
tion  97-102 ;  Liberal  Republicans 
296. 

Rings  of  plundering  politicians  72, 
87  ;  Tweed's  Ring  77-80 ;  Phila- 
delphia Gas  Ring  82-84  '>  '^^  other 
cities  84;  5ee  Corporations.  Rings 
in  the  party  organization  105,  106, 
229. 

Roosevelt,  President  67,  loi,  102, 
no,  315,  327,  381. 

Rotation  in  office  23,  37,  129. 

Rural  districts,  primaries  113;  elec- 
tion campaign  199,  217. 

Saloons  in  politics  168,  239,  304. 
"Scalawags"  56-58. 
School,  instruction  192-194. 


Schurz  (Carl)  295,  300,  302,  330. 

Scratching  the  ticket  216. 

Senate  (U.  S.),  mode  of  election  374 ; 
influence  on  the  Executive  62,  66, 
67 ;  stronghold  of  the  party 
organization  63,  95,  369;  "cour- 
tesy of  the  Senate"  63,  288 ;  seat  of 
bosses  95,  368  ;  of  plutocrats  368, 
374;  "Senatorial  group"  96; 
popular  election  352 ;  character 
analyzed  367 ;  relations  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  369 ; 
legislative  usurpations  370;  plan 
of  reform  451-454. 

Separation  of  powers  62,  362,  451. 

Silver  movement  91,  99,  300,  394. 

Single-issue  organizations  301,  441. 

"Slate,"  of  candidates  105,  341, 
346. 

Slavery,  alliance  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party  39 ;  imprisons  the 
community  in  the  existing  parties 
43 ;  splits  them  44-46 ;  breaks 
them  up  46-48 ;  anti-slavery  par- 
ties 46. 

Sociahsts  173,  304,  316,  319. 

Songs,  poUtical  ss,  34. 

South,  see  Slavery.  Conditions 
before  the  war  52  ;  after  the  war 
55,  56;  "Solid  South"  57-58,  100, 
420 ;  primaries,  338  ;  direct  nomi- 
nations 117,  343;  election  cam- 
paign 200,  204. 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives 286,  287,  371,  372,  377 ;  in 
the  Legislatures  247,  290. 

Spoils  system,  originates  in  New 
York  22  ;  nationalized  under  Jack- 
son 23,  24 ;  see  Rotation  in  oflSce ; 
entrenched  36-38  ;  under  Lincoln 
52  ;  in  the  South  after  the  war  55  ; 
members  of  Congress  dispense  the 
offices  62-64  ;  under  Grant,  Hayes 
64 ;  Garfield  65  ;  Cleveland  66 ; 
Benjamin  Harrison,  McKinley, 
Roosevelt  67  ;  generates  the  Boss 
94 ;  summary  of  the  effects  321 ; 
justified  by  the  politicians  270; 
attacked  by  Civil  Service  Reform 
321 ;  with  what  results  326-328. 

Standard  Oil  Company  90. 

Stump  oratory  183,  186. 


INDEX 


469 


Suffrage,  right  of  5,  25,  134  «,,  170, 

174,  353. 
Sugar  trust  90. 
Sumner  (Ch.)  283,  284. 

Taft,  President  381. 

Tammany  Hall.  History  73  s. ; 
Tweed's  Ring  77  s.;  new  methods 
of  looting  80 ;  vicissitudes  for  the 
last  decades  81-82,  306,  307,  308, 
309,  320. 

Territories  48,  134,  135. 

Texas,  annexation  of,  39,  40,  48. 

"Third  parties"  173,  296,  302-304. 

"Ticket,"  party  ticket  31,  130,  165; 
straight  ticket  and  split  ticket  219, 
335.    See  Bolting,  Scratching. 

"Tidal  wave"  219. 

"Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too"  33,  198. 

Trusts,  and  party  organizations  90 ; 
fought  loi,  315,  398. 

Tweed,  leader  of  the  Tammany  Ring 
77-80,  94,  305. 

Tyler,  President  34  n.,  37. 


Union  (the),  cult  of  402-404. 
Unit  rule  in  conventions  135,  153. 

Van  Biu-en,  President  17,  19,  20,  28, 
29,  34,  38,  39. 

Vice-President,  nomination  157. 

Vote.  Frauds  108,  109,  211 ;  secret 
voting,  see  AustraUan  Ballot ;  com- 
pulsory 222,  362  ;  voting  papers, 
see  Ballot ;  getting  out  the  voters 
220 ;  stay-at-home  vote  222.  See 
Preferential  vote. 

Washington,  President  4. 

Washington  (the  city  of)  134  «.,  356. 

Webster  38. 

West  (the),  economic  and  democratic 
evolution  11,  25  ;  hotbed  of  sodal 
discontent  98,  294,  303 ;  break- 
down of  party  lines  420. 

Whigs  29,  32,  36,  38,  40,  44  s. 

Women,  in  politics  170-173;  other 
pubUc  activities  173  ;  suffrage  170, 
363. 


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